With the ballooning cost of cars, one of the few options for affordable motor vehicles open to us working class folks are imported JDMs (Japanese Domestic Market). These vehicles can be legally imported, as many of them are 25 years or older, yet the state of Maine has made it impossible to import them due to “safety ” and “environmental” concerns, which, frankly, are nonsense. American cars of the same vintage are legally drivable and I find it hard to believe that the huge new cars that people drive today are any better for the environment

We need to amend state law to allow JDMs to be driven legally on the road, even Kei class vehicles. If a person is allowed to safely drive a motorcycle in Maine there is no reason to deny Mainers the ability to drive old imported vehicles. 

The 2025 report by the John T. Gorman Foundation on transportation challenges in Maine lays the facts rather bare: 40,000 households do not have a car and 10,500 Mainers are unemployed due to lack of transportation. 

This is a critical bridge between meeting people’s needs today and more permanent solutions, such as investment in public transit and building more walkable communities, which will take much longer to implement. Besides, if we are being realistic, the rural nature of our state will mean that cars will always be important. We must amend registration regulations to allow all imported vehicles that are currently allowed by federal law.

Christopher Parelius
Portland