WoF and CoF changes won’t deliver promised benefits
WoF and CoF changes won’t deliver promised
benefits
Changes announced today for car
and truck inspections won’t deliver the promised benefits,
says Vehicle Testing New Zealand Chief Executive, Mike
Walsh.
Savings from changes to Warrant of Fitness
(WoF) and Certificate of Fitness (CoF) are likely to shift
costs and will see safety eroded.
“Relaxing the
rules around inspections will require huge investment in
other areas, including policing, auditing to maintain
standards, and driver education. They’ve hugely
underestimated the additional costs,” says
Walsh.
“The Ministry of Transport’s own figures
predict an increase in injury accidents and even deaths, but
we believe these figures have also been greatly
underestimated. Some estimates predict an extra 10 deaths
and 100 injuries on our roads each year.
“It’s
easy to dismiss our comments as self-interest or even
scaremongering, but VTNZ is appointed by the NZ Transport
Agency to provide a nationwide service and carries out about
230,000 truck and trailer inspections each year – 86% of
all heavy vehicle safety inspections, and nearly a million
WoFs a year. Our people are concerned about any lowering
of safety standards given what they see in our testing
stations every day.”
These changes are likely to
see some VTNZ testing stations close and others reduce
services – which will limit motorists’
choice.
“The biggest risk is likely to be safety
standards that will slide unless there is a considerable
investment and effort spent on offsetting the impacts,”
says Walsh.
CoF changes could be another
‘leaky homes’
New Zealand’s heavy
vehicle inspection system is currently based on the
independence of inspectors – VTNZ has no interest in
repairs and there’s never a question that standards or
safety will be compromised by commercial
pressure.
Removing that independence means a lot
more emphasis on self-regulation and a big investment in
auditing, compliance and enforcement – without those
safeguards, it can be very hard to protect the integrity of
inspections.
Leaky buildings and taxi deregulation
are examples of what happens when the balance is wrong –
it may not happen immediately, but experience shows us what
does happen when you don’t have proper checks and balances
on industry operators.
Most operators with good
safety practices will take the same professional approach to
fleet safety they do now, but it’s naïve to think
everyone will do the right thing.
Studies by
industry experts and NZTA confirm the current inspection
system is accessible, value for money and maintains a high
standard of vehicle safety – over time, these changes
could see prices rise and the services reduced –
particularly in rural and provincial areas.
These
changes will turn the inspection industry upside down, all
for the sake of around $26 million dollars – you really
have to ask if it’s worth the increased risk and the
disruption to a system that already works very
well.
WoF changes too far for older cars
The Government will need stricter rules
and enforcement to maintain safety levels.
VTNZ had
suggested reducing inspections on newer vehicles, but had
made a strong submission for keeping six-monthly checks for
cars over 8 years old. This change means that cars that are
already 13 years old will only be inspected once a year and
each year older and older cars will be inspected less and
less.
Age and mileage are the biggest cause of
safety defects and, with a vehicle fleet that’s an average
of 13 years old, the facts speak for themselves.
If
cars are inspected less frequently, the tests will have to
be tougher and there’ll need to be a lot more roadside
enforcement to make sure people keep cars safe in between
annual WoFs – especially older cars. We think this is an
area where the costs have been greatly
underestimated.
Half of all cars going for WoFs now
will not pass without some repairs – doubling the time
between inspections means the number of cars driving round
with defects will also increase, quite likely at a faster
rate if you think of the compounding or snowballing
effect.
Walsh says most people use their WoF as
their regular safety and maintenance check. People are
used to paying a little regularly to keep their care safe
– moving to annual checks is also likely to see the
average repair bill increase and outweigh any savings. We
know how hard it is to change driver behaviour and we’re
concerned about what will happen to road safety during the
transition.
The detail of these plans will be
crucial to keeping people safe on our
roads.
ENDS