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[–] 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (5 children)

Ok, here's how you fix it:

  1. Calculate how many headlights need changing and how much it will cost
  2. Create a fund for that amount.
  3. Announce that in a 1.5 years headlight regulation changes and all cars need to adapt.
  4. During annual checks verify the lights. If they don't comply with the regulation send driver to regulate/change them for free (covered by fund established in 2)
  5. After 1.5 years do random checks. Each car that still doesn't comply gets towed. The owner can either pay for the tow and fixing the lights and can't recover their car.

Just saying there are new requirements would be unfair to poor people that bought a car before the new regulation. They would have to spend extra money now to fix something they are not responsible for.

Saying that car manufacturers have to fix all their cars would be unfair because they were selling car that complied with all regulations. This would not stand in court.

That's why there's no quick fix. Doing it fairly will be complicated and it will cost money. It's easier for politicians to ignore the issue.

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  • [–] 8 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    during annual checks

    Most of north america doesn't do that. Some place require a safety check to initiate insurance, after that most just wait for things to break or get pulled over by a cop/ministry of transportation.

    Im also a little iffy about #2. We already subsidize drivers enough, making them pay for their lights or at least partly pay sounds reasonable.

    I think a middle ground solution would be add the regulations for new cars and enforce the regulation when a noncompliant car changes owners. This way buyers of used cars should be able to research if that cost is likely to impact their model or not. It doesn't take all the headlights off the road at once but it starts phasing out the problematic cars.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Most of north america doesn’t do that.

    Clearly, a solution for civilized countries :)

    But I agree, you can either pay and get the problem solved faster or pass the cost to drivers and wait a decade or more to phase out problematic cars.

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago

    Just put the onus on car and bulb sellers going forward, then tack on a req for antiques that goes into effect in stages, probably paired with registration renewals. That way it's not an all-at-once burden, and most people can know about the transition well in advance. No surprises.

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