Smog Checks

While agreeing with the conclusion of your Dec. 22 editorial, “Good Smog Checks Are Crucial,” I don’t quite see where Smog Check II represents tough choices for the policymakers. When did driving an automobile become a right, rather than a privilege, and, as such, subsidized for those who can’t afford that luxury?

If you doubt that it isn’t the latter, just ask all the users of public transportation. As for the supposed fear mechanics have that customers will take their business elsewhere if they don’t pass the customer’s vehicle, hefty fines and eventual license withdrawal will keep “human errors” from occurring in half the inspections conducted at test and repair stations. If the Air Resource Board authorities remain lax in this regard, the depletion of respiratory health of the local population will continue.

HANS J. PLICKERT

Downey