Good standard of vehicle fitness

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33093, 7 December 1972, Page 16

Good standard of vehicle fitness

A check on vehicle fitness by the ; Ministry of Transport in the central section i of the South Island has revealed a good { standard in most vehicles. i

i vehicles checked which were first registered after 1965, and therefore required to have seat belts fitted, 22 did not have seat belts at all and in 71 instances they were : fitted but not being used. A check on earlier cars and vans, in which seat belts are not compulsory, showed that belts were fitted to 167 and being used, 786 had no belts at all, and 146 had belts fitted but they were not being used. > A total of 242 motor-cycles ■ were checked and 17 did not i have warrants of fitness, i 1 There were very few faults ' I found with motor-cycles. Of i ’ those checked only one had i faulty tyres and one faulty , steering. Most motor-cyclists ■ were wearing helmets, ! regardless of the speed the J cycle was doing. Of 323 bicycles checked, 1 60 had faulty rear reflectors ; or no reflector at all and 14 i had faulty tail-lights. Fifteen 1 were found with faulty head- ■ lights or no headlights. ,

The check, which covered the area from the Conway to Waitaki rivers and included the West Coast but not Christchurch city, was held over a week from November 20. Results have now been collated. Of the 2209 cars, vans, and trucks checked 54 were without current warrants of fitness. The most common fault found was insufficient tyre tread or damaged tyres, 77 vehicles coming within this category. Thirty-eight vehicles had faulty headlights, 42 had faulty tail-lights, nine had faulty service brakes, 17 cases of faulty parking brakes were reported and four vehicles had faulty steering. Thirty-two drivers who were checked did not have current driver’s licences and five vehicles were not registered. A check on seat belts revealed that of the 1288