Gillard wants to scrap old cars

The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, wants to get old cars off our roads (those built before 1995) in favour of new, safer and more fuel-efficient vehicles, and she’s going to give you two grand to make it happen.

It’s a good deal and we’re all for it (we think it should be a broader reaching proposal and apply to all cars that were not factory equipped with both ABS and ESP), given the appalling condition of many of the cars, which many of our youngest drivers are behind the wheel of these days.

Andrew McKellar is the Chief Excecutive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and he says, “One in five vehicles on Australian Roads is more than 15 years old with many of those not meeting the environmental and safety standards we now expect.”

That’s well over a million cars on the road that have no ABS brakes and many more without the lifesaving Electronic Stability Program (ESP) fitted.

Mr McKellar also said that “A key part of any strategy to reduce carbon emissions from road transport must address the impact older cars will have on the environment.”

It’s about time the Federal Government backed a program that encouraged drivers to buy a new car, rather than one of the cheap oldies that make up such a large volume of cars on our roads today.

The details of the Prime Minister’s proposal have not yet been released, but whatever they are, it’s a great start to many more people in safer cars and that’s good news for anyone who drives.

More on this story as the details come to hand.