It had been nearly five years since I last had to get my car inspected. I bought a new Honda in 2014, and thanks to changes in the law, I didn't need to get it inspected until it reached its fifth birthday, which it recently celebrated.

So, it was finally time to head off to the Motor Vehicle Commission inspection station again. All along the way to the Freehold station, I had painful flashbacks to the interminable waiting lines, the loud, smoggy inspection sheds, and the surly lifers who clearly hated their jobs and seemingly despised the people whose cars they were obliged to inspect. To be charitable, maybe the bad attitudes stemmed from the fumes the workers had to inhale on a daily basis.

Whatever the case, the collective negative experiences of New Jersey motorists gave rise to the MVC — previously the DMV — earning the reputation as the most loathed public agency in the state.

But when I went to put my car through the paces this time, it was evident times had changed. Much to my delight there were no lines. (It was a weekday morning relatively early in the month.) My second surprise was how quickly the inspection went. Inspections for mechanical problems were eliminated long ago. And it doesn't take much time to check the emissions, brake lights, dashboard lights and windshield wipers.

I was even more pleasantly surprised when I recently decided to register my teenage son's (very) used 1997 Dodge Ram pickup truck, which he had bought in anticipation of getting his driving permit this summer. Although he had done a lot of tinkering with the pickup to get it ready for the road, I was concerned not only that it might not pass inspection, but might not be able to survive the trip to the inspection station.

It did make it. But when we got there, we were told it didn't need to be inspected. Under a 2016 law exempting certain classes of vehicles, one of them was any passenger vehicle 2007 and older with a gross weight of 8,501 pounds to 14,000 pounds. The pickup was 8,800 pounds. It doesn't matter how rusted out it is, how much exhaust it belches out or how much of a racket it makes.

While I was thrilled that the pickup avoided the humiliation of a failed inspection sticker, I also was curious why older passenger vehicles, including classic cars (more than 25 years) were exempt. That seemed counter-intuitive. In response to my query, a MVC spokesperson responded that it wasn't cost-effective and that it would have required the purchase of new machinery at the MVC inspection stations and the 1,200 private stations (where motorists must go if they fail the initial emissions test at the MVC stations).

The 2016 law that exempted my son's pickup, as well as all passenger vehicles older than model year 1996, left environmentalists seething. Doug O’Malley, state director of Environment New Jersey, told the Asbury Park Press at the time. “We have all been behind a car on the Parkway that looks like it was from the Dukes of Hazzard. This plan would leave that car on the road.”

The environmentalists are still seething. New Jersey’s air continues to be among the most polluted in the nation. Auto emissions account for nearly half of the pollution. So the good news about not having to get the pickup inspected comes with a major downside: It's negative impact on public health.

So, regardless of the law, my son and I won't be contributing to foul air or poor health. We will be taking the pickup to a private garage for an emissions and safety checkup this weekend.

Randy Bergmann, a Westfield native and lifelong resident of New Jersey, has been covering the state as a reporter, editor and opinion page editor for four decades. Contact him at rbergmann@app.com or 732-643-4034.