Comments on: VACC: One-in-three vehicles unsafe

By: Ken from the NT

Ken from the NT — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:47:07 +0000

The Northern Territory has annual inspections for vehicles over 10 years old, bi-annual inspections for vehicles less than 10 years.

Vehicle registration can be a pain in the proverbial, but I’ve certainly had a few defects in my vehicle that were picked up by the rego inspectors. Certainly some inspectors are a bit more thorough than others. Yet even on Territory roads, I see vehicles that should be defected still driving merrily along. The police need pull these vehicles off the road and defect them.

Instead, our Territory government is still perpetuating the myth that speed is the only danger on our roads, so has reduced speed limits and imposed higher fines for speed offences. Meanwhile our road-toll is higher than before!

By: FRUGAL_ONE

FRUGAL_ONE — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:51:35 +0000

I think its more than 1 in 3 being a s/box on our roads.

Bring on annual RWC inspections done by GovCo run inspection stations.

Get then junkboxes off our roads,

Cheers

F-0

By: Cupid Stunt aka No Name

Cupid Stunt aka No Name — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:35:12 +0000

Now read this story in consideration with the speed camera item then the pollies night realise the two are very closely related. So spend the camera fines on vehicles inspector spot checks and prosecute unraodworthy car.

Totally agree with the annual roadworthy. It done here and works a treat, No MOT test, no roadfund license, no roadfund = prosecution. If your rego was related to a test then the same rules could apply.

I was frankly amazed at the age of car considered driveable when I live in Mel. Indeed the vehicles we owned I wouldn’t have driven them out of the burbs on a run and they had roadworthies. The standards seem whoefully inadequate.

By: Captain Mainwaring

Captain Mainwaring — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:11:51 +0000

So one in three vehicles are unsafe. This may well be true, but even casual observation would conclude that one in 1.5 drivers are unsafe. Which do we fix first?
The statistical mathematicians amongst us would no doubt conclude that when you combine the two (unsafe cars with unsafe drivers) you will end up with a huge problem, and it is a real issue that the stupidest drivers tend to end up in the most unsafe cars.
Because they are stupid they are at the bottom of the socio-economic heap, so not only can’t they drive intelligently but they can’t afford to buy a more modern, safer car. So do we stop stupid people from getting a license, or do we just keep having traffic laws designed for the lowest common denominator?

By: Mark Greenburg

Mark Greenburg — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:56:21 +0000

MisterTwo – I can’t agree with you more. Only in Australia do you still see 30+ year old vehicles driven as daily drivers. I’m in a well off inner urban area of Melbourne and on a 10 minute drive down to the shops I can pass a few old XB/XC Falcons, VW Beetles (old ones, and not restored jobs), Kingswoods, even an old banged up Matador sedan. In the US, you would struggle to spot a vehicle over 10-12 years old in a typical urban/suburban parking lot (even in the warmer states where cars aren’t affected by rust as much). Although I should mention the US average is no where near 5 years – it is actually not too far off our average. Theirs is about 8.6 years while our average is around 9.8 years.

By: MisterTwo

MisterTwo — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:40:23 +0000

These statistics are not surprising considering the number of old heaps which drive around on Australian Roads. The average age of cars in Australia is 10 years, whereas most other developed countries this average is closer to 5 years.

By: Supercujo

Supercujo — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:27:35 +0000

Runnaln: My sarcasm detector may be a bit faulty because I didn’t detect any sarcasm in your comment.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:11:11 +0000

I agree with Supercujo that annual or bi-annual vehicle inspection should be made compulsory. Tyre with little tread left is very dangerous in the wet and can cause skidding. Not to mention poorly maintain vehicles are more polluting and more fuel consuming adding to the CO2 problem.

By: runnaln

runnaln — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:07:29 +0000

As speed is the major factor in 90% of accidents can’t see why VACC are wasting there time, this will not be a saftey issue, unless they can build a roadisde scanner that checks vehicle saftey (Perhaps thats what the Box above is) and fine drivers 3 mnths later.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:54:18 +0000

It’s only held at Bunnings (in the car park), not done by Bunnings. They arrange a local motoring group to do the actual inspection.