> A car you built yourself (or more often a motorcycle) actually _can_ be driven on roads in the US, as long as it has the appropriate indicators (brake lights, turn indicators, headlights).
They don't do safety inspections in the US?
Doesn't the vehicle need to have brakes, a means to change direction, emission checks and so on?
TIL in some states they do emissions checks (although in a lot of states motorcycles are totally exempt from those anyway). And no, they don't do safety inspections of "specially constructed vehicles". And based on the ones I've seen, I can't imagine a world in which they'd pass. [1]
However, at least some states (probably most) require a minimum level of insurance from a carrier licensed in the state. There's nothing that requires those carriers to provide insurance to vehicles that don't meet their minimum requirements.
They vary wildly. Some states (washington used to be this way when I lived there) don't require insurance for motorcycles at all. But yeah, private companies can often make their own rules.
They don't do safety inspections in the US?
Doesn't the vehicle need to have brakes, a means to change direction, emission checks and so on?