You could say Ohio's E-Check testing program is entering the 21st Century.

The Ohio EPA has expanded testing options in the "ChoicePlus" program - with 53 new neighborhood emissions testing stations ready to check your car...at area Lube Stop locations and some other garages.

Ohio EPA director Scott Nally says that 16 of the 23 existing E-Check stations are getting self-serve kiosks...to let you check your own car 24/7.

"So you drive up to it, it's got a screen...walks you right through it, and you plug it in the side of your door, and it'll show you the locations on the vehicle to plug that in," Nally describes the kiosk testing process for AkronNewsNow.com, "and it's step by step. If you can read, you can do it."

One's already in place in Twinsburg, and the others will be put in over the next few weeks.

The "RapidScreen" van can check cars that are driving by - you'll see it on area freeway ramps in the next month.

Nally says that cars can be tested just by driving next to the mobile van. "And then as you continue to drive through, there's a sensor that runs across the beam," Nally describes, "that shoots through the tailpipe, the emissions off the tailpipe, and measures carbon monoxide and all the various components."

It's a difficult test, but if you pass it twice within 9 months, you won't have to go back to get checked. Otherwise, you're back to the other methods.

The new options are for gas powered cars 1996 and newer, or diesel powered cars 1997 and newer.

Locations, and more information, can be found at the E-Check program's new website, www.ohioecheck.org or www.ohioecheck.info.