Ontario's Drive Clean 1853317 222358748 2008-06-28T22:47:16Z 99.248.214.84 reference link to invalid site removed. '''Ontario's Drive Clean''' is a controversial [[automobile emissions control]] program in [[Ontario]], [[Canada]]. It applies only to drivers in southern Ontario at this time. It is administered through Ontario's [[Ministry of the Environment (Ontario)]] (MOE), and the [[Ministry of Transportation (Ontario)|Ministry of Transportation]] (MTO). Vehicles under 4,500 kg (cars, SUV, light trucks) and over 3 years old (and up to the 19th year) will require an [[vehicle inspection|emission test]] every two years before the vehicle's owner or lessor can renew its license plate. A sticker is placed on a vehicle's license plate (rear plate for cars, front for trucks) to identify vehicles that have passed the test. Heavy duty trucks and buses are also covered by Drive Clean program. Out-of-zone vehicles are monitored by a 'smog patrol' team for the MOE and are outside of the Drive Clean program. Similarly, fleet vehicles are often registered outside of Drive Clean zones by private corporations to avoid the additional costs of Drive Clean. ==Coverage area== The current coverage area for Drive Clean: * Greater Toronto/Hamilton since 1999 * Southwestern Ontario - Sarnia to Niagara since 2001 * Eastern Ontario - Ottawa to Peterborough since 2002 * Heavy Duty vehicles - The entire province since 1999 ==Changing standards== The Drive Clean program has underwent several changes since its introduction in 1999 under then Ontario Premier [[Mike Harris]]. In 2003, standards for light-duty vehicles were tightened to require 11.5% lower vehicle emissions than the most stringent American EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) recommended standards. On November 18, 2005, the [[Minister of the Environment (Ontario)]] [[Laurel Broten]] announced several proposed changes to the Drive Clean program<ref>[http://www.driveclean.com Drive Clean Website]</ref>. Standards were tightened by a further 11.5%. Newer vehicles, which have a very high pass rate due to better emission control technology off the assembly line, are now exempted from the program until they are five years old. At the other end of the age spectrum, the exemption for vehicles 20 years old and older is being phased out. Vehicles built in 1988 and afterwards would have "fallen out" of the program after 19 years (for instance, a 1988 vehicle would no longer need testing after 2007). As a result of this change, such vehicles must continue to be tested every two years as long as they are on the road. Vehicles built in 1987 or before will still leave the program permanently when they are 20 years old. Critics accuse the cash-strapped [[Dalton McGuinty]] government, which came into power in 2003 allegedly facing a 5.6 billion dollar deficit, of expanding Drive Clean for budgetary reasons rather than environmental protection.<ref>[http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/01/15/313441.html Photo Radar May Return]</ref><ref>[http://observer.thecentre.centennialcollege.ca/news/driveclean032604.htm Clean air comes at a high price: The end of Drive Clean worries Ontario mechanics]</ref><ref>[http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/third-gen-association-ontario/332140-emission-tests-required-older.html emission tests to be required for older vehicles now exempt]</ref> Ontario had already invested in expensive testing machines, and due to their recent purchase (1998-99) these will not be paid off until about 2014.<ref>[http://www.driveclean.com/downloads/ERG-FINAL_REPORT.pdf Evaluation of Ontario Drive Clean Program]</ref> Concurrent emissions technology improvements rendered the test machines obsolete, leading many observers to assume that Drive Clean's days were numbered. The program was however reformed on November 18th, 2005. Revisions to the program were made, in particular the introduction of annual testing and the removal of the 20-year-exemption<ref>[http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/mj/driveclean.htm Smoking out cash from car hobbyists]</ref>. ==Test accuracy== Drive Clean's emissions test results have been shown to be unreliable in surveys carried out by the media such as in-depth work done by [[the Hamilton Spectator]]<ref>[http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1095718216892&call_pageid=1113912689658&col=1113998670718 Your car failed Drive Clean? Try, try, try again]</ref> and consumer advocacy groups such as the Automobile Protection Association. In these surveys, it was shown that the same car can have extremely variable results in test results (up to 800 percent in one survey), even at the same garage or on the same day with no work being carried out on the car. (APA)<ref>[http://www.apa.ca/template.asp?SectionID=3&ArticleID=5 APA Probe -- Critical of Ontario's DriveClean Emissions Testing Program]</ref>. In 2004, the Ontario Auditor General reported on myriad cases of fraud within the Drive Clean program<ref>[http://www6.autonet.ca/AutonetStories/Stories.cfm?storyID=13454 Auditor slams Drive Clean program]</ref>, such as test facilities (garages) that, for a fee, would test a clean car and report those results instead. Other test facilities would fail a well-tuned car to generate additional work. For these reasons and others, consumer reports suggest drivers try another garage if their car fails a Drive Clean test, before proceeding with expensive repairs. ==Equity concerns== Ontario's Drive Clean program provides no financial assistance to low-income drivers. This contrasts with otherwise similar mandatory emissions testing programs such as those in California, Texas and Arizona. <ref>[http://www.driveclean.com/downloads/ERG-FINAL_REPORT.pdf Evaluation of Ontario Drive Clean Program]</ref> Critics of Drive Clean, including the Province's own consulting firm, the Eastern Research Group, have strongly recommended that financial assistance should be provided <ref>[http://www.driveclean.com/downloads/ERG-FINAL_REPORT.pdf Evaluation of Ontario Drive Clean Program]</ref>. The repair cost limit is about to triple since the program's inception (from $200 to $450, and a proposed $600 RCL<ref>[http://www.driveclean.com/ Drive Clean Website]</ref>) while emissions standards have simultaneously become 23% more stringent leading to a greater percentage of vehicles that fail emissions tests. The social welfare effect is similar to that of a [[regressive tax]], one imposed on drivers who cannot afford newer cars.<ref>[http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?sNav=pb&id=210 Vehicle Emissions Testing: AirCare, Drive Clean, and the Potential of Inspection and Maintenance Programs in Canada]</ref><ref>[http://www.geocities.com/thecheesefactor/driveclean.html Inequity in Ontario's Drive Clean Program]</ref> As of 2006, some unofficial current estimates put the total cost of the program to Ontario motorists close to 2 billion dollars.<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/thecheesefactor/driveclean.html Inequity in Ontario's Drive Clean Program]</ref> The most recent verifiable figure, $1.1 billion (as of 2004), consists of some $435 million in Drive Clean test fees, and about $690 million for repairs to vehicles that failed.<ref>[http://www.carincanada.ca/Smokescreen2A.htm A Billion Dollars Up In Smoke]</ref> Costs for <i>preliminary</i> repairs to vehicles in order to qualify for Drive Clean tests have never been included in these figures, such as repair or replacement of corroded [[exhaust system]] components. Drive Clean test facilities are free to refuse to test any vehicle until such preliminary repairs are made. The Ontario government also has a program to purchase and scrap old polluting cars called Car Heaven. This program is sponsored by [[General Motors]] and [[Exxon-Mobil]] among others. It is structured in a way which will cost taxpayers little, and acts as a small incentive for people to scrap older cars. This has the effect of boosting prices for remaining used cars by reducing supply, making it somewhat more expensive for low-income persons to drive in Ontario. ==Impacts on air pollution== Drive Clean has had little real impact on [[air pollution]] in [[Ontario]]. 2005 was [[Toronto]]'s worst year on record for smog with a total of 48 smog alert days<ref>[http://www.toronto.ca/health/smog/smog_new.htm Smog - Toronto Public Health<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. The [[Ontario Medical Association]] estimated in 2005 that total air pollution (from all sources) would cause some 5,800 deaths and 17,000 hospital admissions that year. It also estimated that the direct health care costs of air pollution in Ontario were about $507 million, and the total economic cost of air pollution to be about $7.8 billion. In late 2004, [[Norm Sterling]], who served as the Environment Minister in Progressive Conservative premier [[Mike Harris]]'s cabinet, stated that Drive Clean had already had its greatest impact on air pollution and had served its purpose<ref>[http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1095804615271&call_pageid=1113912689658&col=1113998670718 Drive Clean founder: put on the brakes]</ref>. Mr. Sterling is often referred to as the founder of Drive Clean. Drive Clean can only address a small fraction of the total automobile emissions problem, because all internal combustion vehicles burn fuels which ultimately pollute the air (including most so-called "alternative" fuels). [[Greenpeace]] co-founder [[Robert Hunter (journalist)]] wrote in 1999 that Drive Clean "has turned out to be an agonizing bureaucratic nightmare that hits drivers with what is basically another tax and a huge hassle, while accomplishing -- in Environmental Commissioner [[Eva Ligeti Environmentalist|Eva Ligeti]]'s assessment -- 'minimal benefits.'"<ref>[http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_05.13.99/news/enviro.php Voting green? Vote Liberal]</ref> Critics of Drive Clean, who included Hunter and many other environmentalists argue that a greater long-term impact on overall air quality would result from reinvesting the same provincial resources towards encouraging low-emitter technologies, some of which offer electric power as an alternative to 100% [[internal combustion]] propulsion<ref>[http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1095804615271&call_pageid=1113912689658&col=1113998670718 Drive Clean founder: put on the brakes]</ref><ref>[http://www.geocities.com/thecheesefactor/driveclean.html Inequity in Ontario's Drive Clean Program]</ref><ref>[http://www.carincanada.ca/Smokescreen4A.htm The Faulty Science of Drive Clean]</ref>. There has been call for the Ontario government to admit to Drive Clean's minimal impact, and to begin promoting low-emissions vehicles such as [[hybrid cars]], [[plug-in hybrid electric vehicle]]s, zero-emission vehicles such as the ill-fated [[General Motors EV1]], and personal transports like the [[Segway PT]]. On March 23, 2006, Ontario's McGuinty government doubled their former $1,000 ceiling sales tax rebate on [[hybrid cars]] up to a maximum of $2,000, but stopped short of making such vehicles PST-free. Several politicians, including [[Norm Sterling]] and [[Howard Hampton]] have argued that diverting the same Provincial funds used for paying for Drive Clean towards improving existing public transit networks might have yielded a far greater overall environmental benefit. Proper funding may have also acted to reduce the well-documented disproportional fare increases seen in Toronto from the [[Toronto Transit Commission]] (TTC) in recent years. The TTC has argued in the past that with riders covering more than 80 per cent of the cost of operating the TTC, it is by far the least-funded mass transit system in North America and one of the least-funded in the world.<ref>[http://transit.toronto.on.ca/archives/data/200602081737.shtml Transit Toronto - Newspaper Archive: TTC fares rise again April 1<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. Another lost opportunity to reduce smog was the quiet shut-down of the [[Hamilton Street Railway]]'s all-electric [[Trolleybus]] routes in 1992<ref>[http://pccmph.com/dewired.html DEWIRED How Hamilton Came to Lose Their Electric Trolleybuses<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. ==See also== * [[AirCare]] - a similar program in [[British Columbia]] ==References== <dsifv cflass="regferences-big"><references /></div> ==External links== * [http://www.driveclean.com/ Drive Clean Website] * [http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/ Ontario Ministry of Environment] * [http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/swat/ Environment SWAT] * [http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Render&c=Page&cid=1113912689658 SMOKESCREEN: Exposing Drive Clean] * [http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/shared/readmore.asp?sNav=pb&id=210 Vehicle Emissions Testing: AirCare, Drive Clean, and the Potential of Inspection and Maintenance Programs in Canada] *[http://www.reason.org/ps222.html Checking up on smog-check: A Critique of Traditional Inspection and Maintenance Programs] * [http://www.raisethehammer.org/blog.asp?id=199 Drive Clean or Drive Less] * [http://www.altlondon.org/article.php?story=20061118232426829 An Issue of Taxation] * [http://www.aaro.ca/Jun3_Oct6-05_NwsBfs.php Overkill in Drive Clean Suspension Practices] * [http://www.varsity.utoronto.ca/archives/119/apr05/news/env.html New provincial environment vows meet criticism: Private businesses may profit more from Drive Clean than environment] * [http://www.greenontario.org/cco/mv2001.pdf The failure of Environmental Planning in Ontario] * [http://www.calcars.org/calcars-news/94.html Toronto Star: Plug in to new hybrid concepts] * [http://www.pluginamerica.com/ Pluginamerica.com] * [http://www.calcars.org/news.html CalCars and Plug-In Hybrids in the News] [[Category:Vehicle emission controls]] [[Category:Transportation in Ontario]]