In some places in Maine, having a vehicle that will fail inspection is a point of pride. Islanders, for example, are famous – and notorious – for puttering about their friendly confines in vehicles held together with spit, glue, trap rope, wire hangers, duct tape and sheer will.

In 2003, a New York Times writer lovingly saluted the “island car” thusly: “As in Cuba, with its storied cars with older vintage, the Maine islands offer a second life to autos that elsewhere would have been fed to compactors.”

Of course, the rugged romance of the island car isn’t all about conscientious objection. Vehicles registered for Maine island use have a special decal and are prohibited from mainland operation. In 2005, surprisingly, two “island cars” were registered in Androscoggin and Oxford counties.

This unique privilege of island living is unavailable to the rest of Mainers, for good reason. Unsafe vehicles are scourges, exacerbated by unscrupulous motorists who shop around for a lenient inspection rather than make repairs, and the unsavory inspectors who will sticker anything.

From the outside, though, evaluating a “safe” versus “unsafe” vehicle was nigh-impossible, until now. A new state regulation now asks inspectors, after failing a vehicle, to tear part of the vehicle’s inspection sticker as symbol of its shaky safety status.

The goal, officials said, is to keep motorists honest and ground the inspection station shuffle. Police view the change as an easy way to identify potentially unsafe vehicles, rather than discovering later – perhaps after a crash – that a driver was operating with weak brakes, blown lights, or defective tires.

Also part of the new regulations is requiring inspectors to print their names on the sticker. No more chicken scratches; inspectors who sticker an unhealthy car are just as liable as any motorist looking for a deal.

In 2003, the Sun Journal did its own inspection of vehicle inspectors. We found “glaring and widespread inconsistencies” in inspector’s behavior, especially on repair estimates. That some 22 percent of motorcycles were uninspected, and the state failed to track complaints about vehicle inspectors, were also found.

Without stringent oversight of inspection stations, and evasive motorists, these new regulations won’t work. If a disreputable repair shop uses the law to bully motorists into unneeded repairs, or if a driver habitually drives on a torn sticker, the state needs to enforce the standard it has chosen to enact.

Maine may feel like an island sometimes, off on its own in this Northeastern tip, but that doesn’t mean our vehicles should be regarded that way. The “island car” might be romantic quirk of life in Maine, but the rest of our vehicles should be held to a higher standard.