I personally wish we had stricter safety inspections than currently is in place, or at least had stricter enforcement of current laws. So tired of seeing a lot of unsafe vehicles every day, most of which are lifted rigs that you know didn't LEGALLY pass safety, no excuse for it at all. Also wish we had stricter enforcement for diesels, it would be funny if LEO's could run a hose from the tailpipe up through the window of the truck for these monkeys who think it's funny to "roll coal", but at least there have been some improvements toward more cities/counties requiring testing.
Here is my problem with your statement. The current laws are both good and bad. There are many stock 3/4 ton trucks that don't pass the current mud flap regulations from the factory. That is BS.
Another problem is front bumpers. If you have a factory plastic bumper that is the width of your vehicle it passes while a steel bumper that is 6 inches shorter does not.
You want the rules to be more strict? In what way? Those just two examples of Safety regulations that don't make the vehicle safer. The book is 30+ pages, there are many more regulations that are arbitrary and make no improvement in safety.
As for lifted trucks, aside from mud flaps I don't see many lifted trucks that violate any of the other safety requirements. The only regulations that are impacted by lifts are tire coverage and frame height. The frame cannot be more than 26 inches off the ground. That is a HUGE lift, like 8+ inches and 40's.
As for "rolling coal" I totally agree. There is no reason to dump unburnt fuel out your exhaust just to pollute. Our air quality is shitty enough. But, that is emissions, not safety. Utah is keeping emissions testing and in fact, Utah county is reinstating emissions testing for diesels.