Should MA Dump Inspection Stickers?

I was surprised to see that only 14 states in the United States require annual motor vehicle inspection stickers. I always assumed that having to go through the inspection process and pay your $35 to receive a sticker was commonplace among all 50 states. That is not the case.

On one hand, I get it. We should have inspections and have our vehicles pass to receive a valid sticker in order to ensure we are under the safest conditions possible when on the road. On the other hand, this study from 2017, shows that traffic accidents in states that require vehicle inspection stickers were no more or less deadly than states that don't require them.

In that case, why keep them? Probably as a way for the state to make money. Think about it, if Massachusetts eliminates inspection stickers, the state would have to find an alternative way to make up for that revenue.

Get our free mobile app

As mentioned previously, of the 50 U.S. states only 14 of them currently require annual safety inspections according to Headlights. The following states include:

Hawaii
Illinois
Louisville
Maine
North Carolina
New York
New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia

The following five states require either safety testing every other year or have special requirements according to Headlights. The following are:

Delaware
Illinois
Nebraska
Mississippi
Rhode Island

This past March, the state of Maine attempted to do away with inspection stickers for vehicles less than 20 years old but that bill did not pass. What are your thoughts on our state? Should Massachusetts do away with the inspection process or do you feel that it should stay the way it is?

While on the topic of vehicles, take a look at these beauties.

LOOK: See the iconic cars that debuted the year you were born

Do you remember any of these gas prices?

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.