You must have at least seen cars broken down on the side of the highway. I’ve been there a bunch of times and I’ve never had a trip I didn’t see some POS bringing traffic to a crawl because it broke down.
My best friend lived out there for several years and by the time he left he HATED that they didn’t have annual inspections. Just watch the threads here about inspections to see what people will do if they don’t have to meet some minimum requirement for maintenance.
“Do I need an emergency brake for inspection?”
“How worn can my brakes be to still pass?”
“I’ve got a pretty bad wobble in the front end, think it will pass?”
“What’s the minimum tread depth for tires?”
“My shocks are really bad, will I still pass?”
All questions I’ve seen asked on here about inspections. If those people didn’t have to get an inspection I know for a fact they wouldn’t get their unsafe cars fixed.
The emissions thing you can debate, but I find it funny that the people crying most about mandatory emissions checks are usually the same people who bitch the most about SUV’s.