Street Legal Cars

Some countries have regulations of what cars are considered road legal. Most cars out there are road legal, but an act in 1985 made it so that every newly made foreign vehicle must pass a strict inspection or it will have a 25 year ban on it. Some of the car manufacturers that were impacted were most Japanese brand cars such as Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, ect. The reason they were banned was because they didn’t meet the safety standards the U.S. has. Unlike today most cars have met the safety standards, but older cars such as a Nissan Skyline which didn’t meet today's standards cannot be imported until 2024 since it will have been 25 since the car was manufactured.

Some people also like to collect cars from movies like all the Aston Martins James Bond used. Though some are legal they still are what the government calls “collectables” and are only meant for showcasing.

Other people like to collect race cars, but those are meant strictly for competing and not for the public road. Those cars can be a safety hazard. Then there's the famous supercars like Bugattis, Mclarens, Paganis, ect. Super cars are high performance sports cars and are typically road legal, but it depends where you live and what car it is. Some countries have banned the use of super cars outside of a track and can even take them away if that law is broken.

Then the last type of cars that are not considered road legal are heavily modified cars. The modifying of a car's engine came about in the 60s but really started to take off in the 90s. The tuning of cars can make them illegal. Some of the most modified car brands are Hondas, Nissans, Subarus, and many others. This has led to many cars to be inspected even more than the 25 year regulations. These types of cars are generally ones that perform illegal street races. Though there are some places where you can specifically take them to race and drift they are also public hazards like race cars. All in all, not all cars are street legal. 

 

Do you think all cars should be road legal?

 

Do you think the government should be more strict or not? Why?

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  • I don't think all cars should be street legal. Mostly of how much you can modify a car and how it could then possible be harmful to those who are on the road as well. I think the government is most just on the spot with the street legal cars. But there could possible a couple spots where the could be more strict.

  • I don't think that all cars should be road legal. The cars on the road should be safe but it could affect other people as well if a car isn't safe enough. I can understand that some people want to have a specific car but if it's not safe for everyone then they shouldn't have it. 

  • I think that if a car is street legal it should be safe to drive for the owner and other drivers. I think that if you have too loud of a car it could be a distraction or if it is too old and could break down a lot. I think that if they are safe to drive they should be street legal. 

    • I agree that if you own the car it is your choice to drive it around and that older cars should just be updated to the newest safety system for them to be more safe around the public roads.

  • I think all cars should be legal as long at its safe to drive and isn't gonna cause a problem. If you know how to drive it then you should be fine. But i think you shouuld prove you knoew how to handle a car before its legal to drive it.

  • I think that if all cars are street-legal it could be dangerous. For example, if you have a really old car, it could break down and cause more problems for everyone on the road. I also think that cars that are too loud are dangerous because they could scare other drivers causing them to react or jump in a bad way and cause an accident. 

  • I think that all cars should be street-legal. Cars like Formula, NASCAR, and other race cars are less common on public roadways, but as of right now they are not legal. I think that they should be street-legal. I think it should be up to the people driving these cars. If they want to risk it, it is up to them. 

    • I agree with you, though i think instead of anyone driving them i think people could get special licenses to drive those types of cars around the public roads.

  • I think that not all  cars or trucks should be street legal. I think that there are many tests they do to make sure the car or truck to make sure they are safe for the driver, passanger, as well as other cars on the road. 

  • I think that they should keep this law because then you get people flying down the road. Sure it would be cool to see an F1 car flying down the road but you need that to keep people safe. Also it keeps the compition fair so that someone can't make something so different that no one can have it. 

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