The new placement of Virginia's stickers will be in line with other U.S. states.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — State vehicle inspection stickers will soon have to be slapped on the lower left-hand corner of windshields.

Virginian motorists have long had to place inspection stickers in the bottom center of windshields. But local media reports that the rules will change Jan. 1 for inspections that expire in 2019.

The new placement of the stickers will be in line with other U.S. states.

Virginia State Police say the change was needed because of new crash-avoidance technology.

In a statement, they say the “new technology utilizes the center of the windshield” and placement of items there could stop crash avoidance systems from working.

“The core mission of the Virginia Safety Inspection Program is to promote highway safety and the crash avoidance technology is another tool provided by manufacturers to ensure vehicles operated on the roadways are safe at all times,” said Capt. R.C. Maxey Jr., Virginia State Police Safety division commander. “Therefore, we immediately began evaluating the situation and set forth to make the necessary changes to the Motor Vehicle Safety Inspection Manual, which governs the placement of the safety inspection sticker on all vehicles.”

There’s no need to try to peel off existing inspection stickers from a car’s glass. The change only applies for newly issued 2019 stickers.

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