26 June 2008

Compulsory rego inspections - worth bringing back to the ACT?

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Some recent posts about the driving skills (or lack therof) in Canberrans mentioned the increasing number of cars about town with blown headlights or brake/tail lights. I also notice that about 1 in every 10 cars in your average carpark have tyres that are marginal for tread at best or downright bald – especially on the outer edges. Then at least once every day I’ll see some smokey old dunger blasting along leaving a smoke haze that your average reggae audience could only dream of. These are all blindingly obvious things that just don’t seem to get picked up. What about dodgy brakes and stuffed steering components?

Given there is insufficient police numbers to – well – police these laws, and I havn’t seen any operation or evidence of the supposed Random Vehicle Inspections since about 2001, is there a need to re-introduce annual vehicle inspections?

Bring back annual vehicle inspections?

  • It might make me feel better about my neighbour's crap-box - that's worth inconveniencing the whole city for.
    (13%, 27 Votes)
  • No thank you
    (54%, 113 Votes)
  • Yes please
    (33%, 69 Votes)

Total Voters: 209

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I know it’s much more convenient for us (and the Government) to simply pay up our rego fee without having to dick about with inspections, getting stuff fixed that doesn’t make the car any cheaper to run and lining up at a Shopfont with the inspection paper. However, NSW – which has annual inspections (now for cars over 5yo only) – is introducing an electronic pink slip inspection report that reports online from the inspector to the RTA, which should address part of that problem.

At the moment, in theory, you could buy a new car and not have it inspected to make sure it was safe as long as you owned it – 10, 20 years or more. Sure, you’d probably replace the tyres when sparks came off them in corners and the brakes when the grinding metal sound got too loud – or turn up the stereo – but otherwise, nada. Service places could suggest replacements but I’ve seen people just pay for the oil change, grab the keys and drive off – after throwing the snotty, screaming fruit of their loins in the back seat. Bear in mind too that many owners of budget new cars – Hyundais, Kias, current model Barinas etc – just adopt a disposable product attitude to their car and it never goes in for a service.

I am not advocating the old “turn up to a Govt inspection station and wait in line for half a day before some old git who’s cranky cause the last car like yours dripped oil on this head fails your car because the number plate is 0.05mm below the Prescribed Standard” days. There are heaps of places which are Authorised Inspection Stations these days around town who do inspections for interstate transfers so that shouldn’t be a problem. Yes, you’ll still have a percentage of cars passed through that shouldn’t be on the nod and a wink of a mate. And you’ll still have a number of people driving around unregistered and not giving a stuff. But the overall numbers of roadworthy cars should improve – shouldn’t it? And maybe – just maybe – even one fatal accident due to a vehicle fault could be prevented?

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seems that our way of doing things with vehicle inspections has caught on elsewhere – NSW will soon adapt to our way of doing things -v- their annual check for torn seats etc.

transaustralia1:18 am 14 Jul 08

No way bring them back. What is there to prevent the punter being raped financially by mechanics who inflate the repair required list by stating problems that do not exist? In other places like NSW there is little oversight in this area. I know of many people who’ve been to one place, then had others tell them the bloke was trying to rip them off. The mechanics get away with this because its close to rego time, people need the renewal for their getting to work and living their life, and are frightened to complain and because if you’re busy working its a lot of hassle going around many places [plus paying inspection fee] to try and find an honest inspection.

Plus many poor punters get failed for frivolous things like tiny oil leaks, little bits of rust and that, ok really dangerous faults should be failed but if its not really dangerous or imminently likely to cause danger, then these garages are just rip off merchants. Why should that battler have to spent hundreds or thousands on possibly unnecessary repairs when his runaround car is probably worth less than the cost of the job?

I agree with previous posters’ observation that vehicle faults are VERY rarely responsible for accidents. It is almost always driver error.

I say drive with coathangers for throttle cables, just drive to the conditions and within your, your vehicle’s and the law’s limits.

la mente torbida3:42 pm 26 Jun 08

OMG cranky, I had forgotten the times I joined the queue at Phillip at 7:00am……halfway down Botany street.

Now I take off my rose coloured glasses….Good riddance

The downside was the thousands of hours wasted by the owners waiting in the queue. There was a phone no to ring to see how many hours you would have to wait prior to inspection.

We do not need the bad old days to return. Good riddance.

la mente torbida8:52 am 26 Jun 08

Seem to remember that on the bad old days of compulsory inspections….Canberra had the highest prices attained for second-hand vehicles

Felix the Cat7:23 am 26 Jun 08

skaboy12 said :

I-filed said :

TOTALLY in favour of compulsory annual inspections in cars over five years old – provided the rego station gets with the times and opens on weekends and till 7 pm.

So now you expect me to work 8am to 7pm seven days a week?? Do you work this much?? How hard is it do it on a weekday or saturday between 8 and 3?? If you drop the car off at 8am we will even drive you to work during the week.

I work 8am-5pm 6 days so how would I go about getting my car inspected? Lots of businesses are open for late night shopping and/or weekends including Sunday all day do you really think their staff all do 60 hours+ a week? No. They have different staff on different shifts.

A large proportion of the cars I see on the road with one headlight, 1.5 headlights or any other defect are under 10 years old.

Either bring back the compulsory inspections or increase the number of mobile inspections and police I say. I’ve seen the mobile inspections around – I see them one every 6 months or so, about as often as I see a police car on the road.

If they brought back the inspections it should be a simple $30-$40 roadworthy inspection and certificate from the mechanics once a year and electronic lodgement by the mechanic would be good. Nobody should have a problem with that seeing everyone should at least have their car serviced once a year at least. If you maintain the car yourself pay to do the registered inspector test or whatever the requirement is, of go pay the $40 for the inspection.

As for the pople saying defect cars are no more likely to be involved in an accident, good luck explaining that to the police when you crash your piece of crap car and they’re writing out your multiple tickets or your summons.

Time was when an ACT used car was valued highly. It came from inland, and was less likely to have been battered by salt spray. That’s still the case. But, as well, someone relatively disinterested had looked at it pretty thoroughly within the last 12 months. So the odds were better that it was not full of rust or bits of filler or bits about to fall off. In NSW at the same time, it was famously possible to get anything registered provided you went to the right mechanic and bought enough stuff to make it worth his while – wiper blades for regular customers, a new tyre if he sold them.

It was an encumbrance – the inspectors were, after all, ACT public servants with all the dynamism that conveys and they really liked having an easy time on Friday afternoons, so if you went then, you’d get failed. And a marginal car might be ticked if driven by an attractive young woman or if it contained a couple of screaming toddlers.

But I’d suggest the cars on the road were a lot more reliable because of it. If you blew a headlight or had a tyre that was looking like Kojak, you’d replace it. If your brakes were more like squealy slowing devices, you’d get failed.

smokey4 said :

“A couple of years ago broke a throttle cable at Yass and drove to Melbourne using a piece of wire up through the bonnet and through the driverside window.”

“Blew a rear brake cylinder in Melbourne last xmas and drove her back to Canberra on the front brakes.”

…And therein is the reason we need to have compulsory inspections. Pain though they are.

.

Re Roadrage77 – I am a big enough target with out giving full details on riotact.
Vehicle needs new rubber has 700,00kms on the clock and looks it.

I was a bit worried a couple of weeks ago when I drove to Melbourne. Had a NSW police car follow me from Sutton to Murambateman. Pulled over on the gravel just prior to Murrambateman to let him pass then followed him to Yass.

A couple of years ago broke a throttle cable at Yass and drove to Melbourne using a piece of wire up through the bonnet and through the driverside window. Bloody cold that night.

Blew a rear brake cylinder in Melbourne last xmas and drove her back to Canberra on the front brakes.

Has its moments but managed to avoid any serious problems in the last 24 years in this vehicle.

I can tell you that joint RTA/Police random vehicle inspection do occurr on a regular basis and that in general policing, defective vehicles (including cracked windscreens, defective lights and balding tyres) are picked up on a daily basis. You may not see it happening, but does happen.

I had a nice note on my windscreen letting me know to change my tyres when I went to drive home one day. Fair cop – went and did it. I’d rather that than hanging around for hours at the rego.

I-filed said :

TOTALLY in favour of compulsory annual inspections in cars over five years old – provided the rego station gets with the times and opens on weekends and till 7 pm.

So now you expect me to work 8am to 7pm seven days a week?? Do you work this much?? How hard is it do it on a weekday or saturday between 8 and 3?? If you drop the car off at 8am we will even drive you to work during the week.

Geez, I am over people expecting us to work around thier working hours, its not like we have families or anything. We open saturday and we open longer that day than any of the other places around. I have a life and a family and I expect that I can spend some time with them.

Of course, then there’s the large dealers in belconnen with Lion logos who pass your NSW registered car for a pink slip, even though the brake lights don’t work (blown bulb but that’s not the point) with not even a word to the client about it, leaving them to find out themselves.

smokey4 said :

My vehicle has not been near a mechanic or reg station since 1984

What are you driving smokey? Obviously not a Holden Camira if you’ve managed to go for a quarter of a century without hitting up a grease monkey.

My vehicle has not been near a mechanic or reg station since 1984 and carries Vic Reg and will contiue to carry Vic reg to avoid this. Wonder how much revenue will be lost by cars being registered in Vic to avoid an annual inspection?

The cars I see in “accidents” are not the old bangers but the hotted up Subies and the like. The problem is the driver not the car.

Worst idea ever.

Mechanical faults/unroadworthiness account for roughly 0.2% of accidents according to ABS data. The rest are human error.

Additionally, independent inspectors are notorious for over-inspecting cars and finding “faults” so as to garner busniess by way of repairs. Those who drive older model cars (the same people who can least afford it) tend to get financially raped by such inspections.

Last time I took an older car over the pits they failed me on such things as:

-slightly loose air-conditioning switch
-CD player bracket missing a screw
-indicator light flashing too quickly
-Window tint too dark (despite the tint being factory installed)

Now tell me how any of these faults make me a danger to others on the road.

…the system in NZ….done at most garages…..cost about $40…. done every six months.

About the same cost as a rego check here, also done by the mechanic, difference is you only have to do it once at purchase.

I just got it done when the car was serviced, no dramas really. The garage put the sticker on the car for you, and filed the paperwork.

This is great, but what if you service your own vehicle?

Sleaz274 said :

What a useless waste of time and money for all involved. Your car is your responsibility.

The problem with this is there is an assumption that all people are responsible, which simply isn’t true.

Car accidents have an unfortunate habit of affecting more than just the person who drives the car which loses control on the wet road due to bald tires, what about the on-coming car which gets collected along the way?

I never had a problem with the system in NZ when I was there. Your car has to be registered (which is a lot cheaper than here) and separate to that you have to maintain a Warrant of Fitness. This can be done at most garages, it cost (8 years ago) about $40, and it had to be done every six months. I just got it done when the car was serviced, no dramas really. The garage put the sticker on the car for you, and filed the paperwork.

Zee,

As the vehicle fleet cycles with new replacing old, the emissions regime is constantly tightened, the vehicles become greener, and the chance of vehicle emissions increasing is zero.

ACT are enforcing the next stage of a tighter emissions schedule (Euro 4) from next Tuesday, 1 July.

Love some of the lacksadaisical lazy-fairey attitudes to it here. Some of the stuff, who cares. But buggered brake lights are important: you can see how that could contribute to the likelihood of an accident. Stuffed seat belts: I don’t want me and all the other taxpayers paying hundreds of thousands in upkeep over the rest of the life of a moron who ended up quadriplegic because he didn’t have his seat belts in order. Some of this stuff ipinch of prevention vs pound of cure.

The big one though has got to be proper and regular actual emissions testing, and if that isn’t going on, then give it another 10 years before Canberra stinks and chokes and has air quality up the klacker. No one will notice though because it will happen day by day and month by month. Unless we’re all driving plug-in hybrids by then, here’s hoping!!

Yep I agree well said, most of it anyway. When the whole fabric of society starts breaking down or we have shear pandemonium on the streets due to defective vehicles maybe we can look at more govt red tape but in the mean time leave it as is. In fact simplify it. Dont have state and territory rego at all just have a greatly slimmed down federal rego and licensing.

What a useless waste of time and money for all involved. Your car is your responsibility. Maybe if you’re so concerned with public safety due to faulty vehicles leave a note on someones windscreen. “Hi, not sure if you’re aware but your tyres may be bald” “Good evening I noticed your brake light was out it might just need a new bulb” yadda yadda. I was only aware my brake lights were out once because a motorcyclist pulled up alongside at some lights waved at me, waited for me to turn down the stereo and wind the window down and then politely said “hey mate I think both your brake lights are out you should get them checked.”

Why put another pointless, time consuming nanny state expense into people’s lives and the govt’s costs (no wait they’ll just add the cost to everyone’s rego cos that’s a better solution for you all 99% paying for the 1% as usual). Live and let live and relax. Australia seems to be already too over regulated, involved in pointless rules to capture the 0.0001% of incidents that someone noticed sometime one day. All anyone who knows anything about cars/bikes would do is “fix” the modification for the inspection then go back to their garage and put their modification back on. That’s why Harleys sound like they do, simply get a steel plate, drill a couple of holes, spot weld in place in exhaust pipes or muffler fixture for testing, remove when done and welcome back the decibels.

Really does a missing brake light/headlight, slightly bald tyre, mal-adjusted mirror, bit of noise, female driver (which seriously should be illegal…well it is in tassie), a sticker, some fluffy dice cause you that much of a problem in your daily life…really?

My 87 car has never been inspected in the 15+ years I’ve had it. I park in the ‘burbs or at the mechanics on the few times I drive to work, so no car park inspections.

would prefer they increased the number of vehicle inspectors and let them enforce road rules as well, esp tailgating.

Compulsory inspections are largely a waste of time. The number of accidents caused by faulty cars is ultra tiny.

Rego checks have to be a case of diminishing returns. Sure, you will ping broken bulbs, worn tyres, oil leaks etc, but there is no evidence to suggest that these have the slightest impact on the accident rate.

Heavily modified suspension on the doof doof brigade’s vehicles can create severe handling problems, and is to be discouraged.

Funny coloured lights should be pinged if they don’t work. Otherwise why worry? So they’re diferent.

We already have a bureacracy in place to police the motor vehicle registration requirements. They apply the law as they see fit, with no comeback for the hapless motorist. It is a major gripe of mine that these people are unaccountble for their decisions, and our political masters seem to have decided the whole mess is in the too hard basket. I would like to explore if the Ombudsman could have some impact. Even losses in court cases do not deter these individuals from applying the same decisions to the next identical situation.

I, for one, will be interested in the Australian Motorists Party (if it runs) at the next election, to swing the bureaucrat/motorist equation back towards the centre.

And if not every year, then every two or three years would still be an improvement on right now. Though personally I think that an increase in vehicle inspectors roving, an enough police that they have the time to occasionally pull someone over for a simple blown tail light would be a better option.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy9:01 pm 24 Jun 08

Yearly inspections are a great idea. Adopt the NSW model where you can get your safety inspection done (and the results sent electronically to the RTA), buy or renew your greenslip online (with validity sent electronically to the RTA), pay your rego online, and pay your comprehensive insurance online. One inspection and the rest takes ten minutes on the laptop.

Having someone do a basic check of tyre safety, brake effectiveness, steering and structure and working lights goes a long way, I think.

Huh. Could just report 99% of all Harley Davidsons for their ear-shattering exhausts. Evidently that’s no longer prohibited.

You can always report defective vehicles yourself

http://www.rego.act.gov.au/registrations/regodefective.htm

(I should have said that at least all of the VN hot pink tail lights were in working order – not sure how many laps around Civic the guy could have done before being defected tho!)

I don’t see many bombs around these days but see lots of bald tyres and dodgy modifications.

Some notable examples:

Seen yesterday, VN Commodore with hot PINK tail lights!

Lots more of those little 4cylinder utes with the arse ends dragging and front end raised.

Other utes and coupes with back window entirely covered by a sticker (usually FOX?!)

White courier vans with tyres scrubbed bald (drive well clear of them in the rain)

WRXs and old BMWs so low you get sparks from the exhaust hitting the road.

It doesn’t really bother me because the above mentioned drivers will eventually learn the hard way and I don’t miss that massive lineup at the Dickson motor vehicle registry.

TOTALLY in favour of compulsory annual inspections in cars over five years old – provided the rego station gets with the times and opens on weekends and till 7 pm. Remember the queues in the olden days, all the way down past the back of Daramalan? Yes, there are at least five times as many blown headlights, missing brakelights etc as there were when the rego system was in place. Do they still do roadside inspections? I haven’t seen one in action for more than three years.

I got my car in 94, the dealer took it for its initial inspection, and it’s never had one since. I’ve let the rego expire a few times when overseas, and have actually renewed it by mail or online from the US! It’s a great system, the NSW thing is nuts, you have to go wandering around amassing “slips” of various different colours, massive nuisence.

In Qbn, they have some “Inspector” vehicles cruising around a lot with pink lights, however someone said they only do trucks. The ACT mobile inspectors could get serious and set up roadblocks and snaffle everyone, I reckon, if there was concern.

I do wish they’d have a look at the headlights on the newer cars, they’re too blo0dy bright.

el said :

At the moment, in theory, you could buy a new car and not have it inspected to make sure it was safe as long as you owned it – 10, 20 years or more.

Wrong.

At the moment, vehicles require them every 5 years.

And if you think the passing a ‘roadworthy inspection’ done by most local servos makes a car ‘safe’, you’re dreaming.

Wrong.

I purchased a used vehicle in NSW November 2001. It was inspected the next day here in the ACT and has been registered at all times since then and NOT ever been inspected. It was built Nov ’96, so it is getting on.

My brother bought a new car here in the ACT in ’98 or ’99. He still has it. This has NEVER been out of rego and never had an inspection!

Any one else got a story to back me up, or prove I am not playing the game?

I have seen over the years plenty of inspectors. They roam the public parking bays. There was a day at work that three or four guys got defects, mostly bald tyres so i know they do get around.

I’m pretty happy with the current arrangement thank you. The less the government has to do with me and vice versa, the better.

At the moment, in theory, you could buy a new car and not have it inspected to make sure it was safe as long as you owned it – 10, 20 years or more.

Wrong.

At the moment, vehicles require them every 5 years.

And if you think the passing a ‘roadworthy inspection’ done by most local servos makes a car ‘safe’, you’re dreaming.

Vic Bitterman6:44 pm 24 Jun 08

I’d support a compulsory rego insection each year….

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