A system and method to rapidly perform emissions measurements of in-use vehicles being driven by the general public under normal driving use for determining whether the vehicles are performing in accordance to the regulatory standards by which they were certified. The system and method require no recruitment testing of in-use vehicles with potentially detectable connections, but instead incorporate a vehicle emissions remote sensing device that does not require mechanical or electrical connection to the vehicle, with the measured values being recorded and the vehicles identified, including based on, for example, make and model, engine size, engine combustion management technology and/or pollution control technology. The system and method additionally operates to perform data analysis on the collected data to identify abnormal emissions-related conditions of a particular make and model for the purpose of in-use surveillance, thus allowing actual emissions results to be detected, determined and compared for compliance with regulatory standards.