CERTIFICATES OF FITNESS

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22003, 29 January 1937, Page 6

CERTIFICATES OF FITNESS

INSPECTIONS TO BE

MADE

SMALL STICKERS FOR

WINDSCREENS

EMPLOYMENT FOR FIVE MEN

By the beginning of April every motor vehicle in New Zealand will be required to have affixed to it a trans•fer indicating that it has passed an inspection for fitness within the last six months, and although little more than two months remain no testing has yet been done. The Christchurch City Council, however, has under consideration apparatus which it is claimed will inspect 400 cars in eight hours. Ever since the legislation placing this responsibility on motorists was passed owners of vehicles have been asking the form the test will take and complaining of the cost Both of these can now be explained. Although there has been a constant outcry against the proposed charge of 5s for a certificate it is intended that much of this shall be returned to the motorist in the form of inspection of traffic by extra patrols and education. Under the scheme which the City Council is likely to adopt the sixmonthly inspection for fitness will involve the employment of five more men, and the part of the payment for

the transfer not absorbed in paying those men will be devoted to extra patrolling. This is the expressed wish of the Minister for Transport, the Hon. R. Semple. Although the inspection to which the vehicles will be subjected appears complicated, it is estimated that the testing of each vehicle will occupy not more than six minutes. If this speed can be maintained, and there seems no reason why it should not. those motorists who are complaining about the time which they will be forced to waste while their vehicles are inspected will have little to complain of. If more than that time is occupied, it will almost certainly be caused by the state of the vehicle, and no. testing officer can be blamed for that. Each car will have affixed to the inside of its windscreen a small transfer which must be renewed in a different colour every six months. A transfer suitable for motor-cycles is also being prepared. , . Motorists will be notified in groups that within a certain week they must present their cars for inspection. The parts of the car inspected are: Brakes, headlights, front and rear wheel alignment, steering, windshield wiper, tail light, rear-view mirror, horn, windshield, muffler, and tyres. * Owners who are refused a certificate of fitness because of any fault must present the vehicles again for inspection within the next seven days with the necessary adjustments or repairs made. There will be no further fee for this. When each car is passed the distinguishing sticker is placed on the inside of the windshield, the colour of the transfer being changed from time to time, as the colours of registration plates are changed. Because all the testing is done in the one direction there is no manoeuvring to be done, the motorist driving slowly from one station to the next. As he enters what is known as the testing lane particulars about the registration number, name of owner, and make cf the vehicle are entered on a card. A board fitted with reflectors records the direction, intensity and focus of the headlights. The other lights, windshield wiper, horn, and windshield are also inspected by the second man on the chain, who records his findings by punching.the card. At the' third station attention is centred on the steering. The gear must be neither sluggish nor loose, and there must be no looseness in the tierod and drag link. As the motorist drives over two steel plates with mesh surfaces the alignment of the front and rear wheels is tested, any side drag being recorded on a dial which the motorist himself may see. The fourth inspector in the line will undertake the most responsible part of the work, the testing of the brakes. Four steel plates, also with mesh surfaces, feel the pressure exerted on each wheel by the brakes. Four tubes like thermometers register in pounds the pressure of the brakes showing the degree of evenness on the wheels and also the • presence of delayed brake action if that fault exists.

With the findings of the four previous inspectors recorded on the card the man at the final station approves or rejects the car. If it is approved the fee is accepted and the transfer issued. If, however, the car is rejected as unfit it must be brought back within seven days to undergo again the part of the test in which it previously was found faulty. It is a scheme of this type that the Christehurcb. City Council is almost

certain to adopt. Its cost is little less than £BOO. At present the traffic committee of the council is still seeking a suitable area on which to carry out the test. When a section is secured it is puobable that two lanes, such as the one described, will he installed, one to deal particularly with heavy traffic^