[Porsche-O-Phile]

It's however, perfectly acceptable for vehicles to drive around in Kalifornia with bald tires, cracked windshields, no lights, crap piled 15' tall in the back of pickups (with no tie-downs), etc. But if you're not in compliance with smog, whoa nelly - look out!

Years ago CA tried to implement safety inspections. It was thrown out after a lawyer argued (successfully) that this would discriminate unfairly against people of a certain socio-economic class and/or racial demographic, since they disproportionately drive around in unsafe vehicles. So as a result, no safety checks, only smog checks, which of course some people can always work around anyway...

Great system.