... but UHP is definitely stepping up it's enforcement of the safety code.
I would expect them to step up enforcement, actually. In the past, they could be lax "because the annual inspections will catch most stuff" but now that there is no inspection, it's entirely up to them.
So your thought is when the legislature eliminated one source of code enforcement they expected the UHP to increase their scrutiny and ticket people that they previously were not?
I don't think that was their specific intention, no... but that's pure speculation on my part.
so what where they doing prior to safety inspections being eliminated?
I guess they weren't paying
as much attention, though they certainly weren't letting everyone off scot free. For example, in the Jeep FB groups people have
always been complaining about the cops every time they get cited for lack of flares and/or flaps. But since
every last damn one of them knew exactly what the legal requirements are, and then they chose to ignore them, I never have an ounce of sympathy for them.
As for mud flaps, I don't see how any reasonable person thinks it OK to ticket someone for a vehicle condition that is legal as long as it came that way from the factory but same exposure is illegal if it's the result of a modification. But the law is the law so if I'm cited ill pay my civil disobedience fee.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the current mud flap law, as written, is the smartest, best, most appropriate law on the books. Nevertheless, it is what it is. The requirements are spelled out very clearly, and it is easy to bring a vehicle into compliance. Why anyone would ignore this law--and bait every cop in the state into pulling them over--is beyond me.
