mr peters tells you about jap mini trucks. the wife has been thinking about getting one;

Libertarians – those dangerous people who think everyone has a natural (God given) right to go about their business in peace so long as their business is peaceful – won a small but important victory the other day in Texas that threatens to spread to other states.

Hopefully, at any rate.

What happened was the Texas DMV said people who buy one of those little “Kei” pick-up trucks you may have seen can now legally drive them on Texas roads.

Kei is short for Keitora – and refers to a type of very small truck sold in Japan and other countries where it is still legal to sell vehicles that are not legal to sell here (new) because they do not comply with the latest Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. And while you can buy one used from a specialty importer (here’s one in my area) many states will not issue registration/tags for these little trucks, which makes them illegal to use on public (that is to say, the government’s) roads.

Anyone who dares to drive them on the government’s roads is subject to a Hut! Hut! Hutting! if an armed government worker catches them doing it. Never mind that they’re not harming anyone else – or even themselves – by doing it.

It is worth pointing out that a Mercedes S-Class sedan made circa 2000 is also not compliant with the latest Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The take-home point being FMVSS regulations are more about compliance than safety – unless you think a circa 2000 S-Class full-size Mercedes sedan is an “unsafe” car.........more..........