After reading the report " Clean for the Day" (see references below), I 
expected California to implement its recommendations and once again 
show the world innovative ways to combat pollution.

My understanding was that remote  sensing would  prove  far more 
effective, less costly and eventually replace the current  
decentralized  inspection  and maintenance  program,  known  as 
Smog-Check.

 From the information I could gather on the Internet, it seems to me 
that this did not happen, and that cars are still inspected only once 
every two years. Remote Sensing Devices coupled with high-speed video 
cameras are used to identifiy "Gross Polluters" and require them to 
take the vehicle in for a confirmation test at a Test-Only/Referee 
Center, but It did not find any mention of possible citation for non 
compliance.

I thus have several questions:

Is remote sensing only a marginal and dispensable complement of Smog 
Check 2?

If yes, is it the result of lobbying by repair shops, vintage cars 
owners, or any other group of stake holders?

Are there some statistics for the number of remote sensing sites, 
number of cars annually caught by the cameras, number of citations 
issued, and actually paid, percentage of inspections triggered by 
remote sensing relative to normal periodical inspections for some given 
areas, etc. ?

Any answer or reference of recent reports or articles would be very 
much welcome.

References:
Lave, Charles (1993) "Clean for the Day — California Versus the EPA's 
Smog Check Mandates", Access No. 3, Fall 1993, University of California 
Transportation Center (UCTC), Berkeley, pp.2-7

Glazer, Amihai, Daniel Klein, and Charles Lave, Clean for  a Day: 
Troubles  with  California’s  Smog Check - Report to the California 
State Senate Committee on Transportation, UCTC No 163, August 1993, 
University of California Transportation Center (UCTC), Berkeley, 59 p.

Klein, Daniel B., and Pia Maria Koskenoja "The Smog-Reduction  Road: 
Remote Sensing  versus  The Clean  Air  Act" Reprinted from Policy  
Analysis No. 249 (February 7,  1996) UCTC No.  301, The University of 
California Transportation Center University of California at Berkeley

Richard Darbera
ENPC-LATTS
Ecole Nationale des Ponts & Chaussees
Cite Descartes
77455 Marne la Vallee
France
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