Williamson County Starts On-Road Emissions Test Program

Williamson County officials demonstrated a new way to test car emissions, and it aims to save drivers a long wait at the testing station.

A suitcase-sized box next to a white van shoots infrared beams across the road into a detector box. As the car drives through, its exhaust breaks up those beams. The detector measures the levels of pollutants based on how much the beam breaks up. It also snaps a photo of the vehicle’s license plate. The county, using the license plate number, will then contact the owner and give them the option to send in a payment instead of going to a testing station.

State Representative Charles Sargent has been the champion for this pilot program. He says it makes sense for Williamson County, which only has one emissions testing station.

“Instead of coming into Cool Springs to have your car tested, this mobile unit will be able to go to Fairview and all over. And just in your normal course of normal work-related drives, you can have your car tested.”

The company that runs the van only expects twenty percent of Williamson County’s registered vehicles to pass the test. Those that don’t will still have to pass a traditional emissions check.

If the mobile unit achieves the twenty percent threshold, Wilson, Rutherford, Sumner, and Hamilton counties will join the pilot program.