Oregon’s speaker of the house has introduced legislation that would ban any and all aftermarket parts from Oregon’s vehicles.  This new legislation goes beyond the typical big-brother stuff the car enthusiast community repeatedly has to deal with. Oregon actually wants to regulate which tires you’ll be allowed to put on your car.

SEMA speculates that the state would most likely require that any tire fitted to a vehicle have a rolling resistance equal or less than the tires that came on the car from the factory, because that would help the car’s gas mileage.  Never mind that less rolling resistance = less traction = more dangerous for everyone on the road.  This law is just an example of stupid, unthinking politicians who feel like they need to pander to green voters by needlessly limiting the freedoms of everyone.

I had a friend in college who drove a rear-wheel drive sedan. Being in New England, he fitted his car with snow tires in the winter, and switched to performance summer tires for warmer months.  Both of these sets of tires were much safer than the all-season tires that came on his car, but neither would be allowed under Oregon’s proposed laws.

OK Oregon, here’s the deal.  I’ll give you the same ultimatum I gave my girlfriend when she mentioned wanting to buy a Prius.  If you do this, I will take the catalytic converter off of my car and turn my car into a soot spewing demon.  Luckily for me, I live in Florida, where my car won’t need to be emissions tested to pass inspection.  Also, I live right around the corner from USP, which makes this convenient part just for what I’ve been threatening.  I can’t threaten to drive right in front of the entire state of Oregon whenever it has its windows open, like I did with the girlfreind, but I’ll be sure to take a video and email the lawmakers who voted for the bill.

Now, you might be thinking that this threat really doesn’t have any weight.  I’m just one driver, how could I possibly nullify the amount of pollution that will be saved when an entire state reduces its emissions. It’s ridiculously egocentric to think that my actions would have ANY effect towards offsetting Oregon’s emission reductions.  Almost as egocentric as believing that one State’s silly law could turn back the tide of global warming.