INSPECTION OF MOTOR CARS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 238, 8 October 1936, Page 6

INSPECTION OF MOTOR CARS.

He (or she) who would own and drive a motor ear in this Dominion must pay annually fees for the registration of the car and for his own license, and a charge for third party insurance. Every time he .buys petrol, oil and tyres a substantial part of his payment is, in effect, "earmarked" for the Government. To these imposts there is now proposed to be added a charge of 5/ each half-year for compulsory mechanical inspection of each car. Those who have supported the Transport Minister's safety campaign will not deny that a considerable improvement is needed, and must be brought about/in the efficiency of the brakes and lights of a substantial propoition of the cars now on the road, but is it necessary that all cars should be "certified twice a year? Any motorist knows whether or not his brakes or lights are seriously defective, and that if he does nothing to have thein repaired he imperils himself (to say nothing of others), and, further, that he is liable at any time to be stopped by a traffic inspector and required to undergo a test. The requirement now proposed seems excessive. If half-yearly inspections are essential, only those motorists in whose cars defects are discovered should be required to pay the fee.