Every other day there’s a story on this website about how some law is responsible for making your life and the cars in it worse. Today we’re going to take aim at all those dumb rules, and call them out in the time-honored open forum that is Question Of The Day. What’s the worst automotive law or regulation, in your opinion?
There are oh so many to choose from. Laws about imports. Laws imposing taxes on pickups. And of course, laws about lighting. Fortunately, we’re starting to come around on that last one here in the States, as adaptive beams will soon be permitted thanks to the infrastructure bill. It’s about time — our European neighbors had been lording them over us for too long. They still have their amber rear turn signals though, lucky scoundrels.
Speaking of which, there’s no law that expressly forbids pop-up headlights, like those on our friendly Celica up there. It’s just that they’re so difficult to do without running afoul of requirements around pedestrian safety in some countries that automakers simply don’t bother. Nevertheless I think it still counts in this discussion, and until I meet someone personally gored by the flippers on an F40 I’m going to continue to advocate for their existence.
One stipulation, though — let’s keep this to laws that actually exist, and not vaguely worded ones that aren’t enforced yet and have everyone in a tizzy. Which I know is difficult to do, because government has presented us with so many positive examples of such decrees working to our benefit over our lifetimes. There have been more than enough bad laws throughout history that there’s no need to prognosticate.
What automotive edict would you most love to see disappear? Better yet, how would you drive differently — or rather what would you drive — if it did?