CONCLUSION
In 2020, in response to COVID-19, state vehicle inspection and registration requirements were suspended by Governor Mills under an emergency executive order for over nine months. This move was to manage a threat to public safety. Car repair shops were deemed essential, but state inspections were not. If this rule was crucial to ensure public safety, Governor Mills would not have suspended it. If this has not borne out in more dangerous roadways, then there is no reason to keep the mandate.
Vehicles today are far more safe and reliable than those on the road when the first inspections laws were adopted nearly 90 years ago. Evidence is thin to conclude that these laws save lives and all the data point to the program being an unnecessary burden for Maine motorists, costing thousands of hours and millions of dollars each year. Most states have done away with these outdated regulations. Maine should do the same.