W.O.F. prerequisite for registrations?

Press, 22 October 1983, Page 24

W.O.F. prerequisite for registrations?

PA Rotorua The Motor Trade Association is calling for proof of issue of a warrant of fitness to be a prerequisite for vehicle registration. Delegates at the annual meeting of the association’s automotive repairers’ division in Rotorua see this as a step to remove from thfe roads some of the more dangerous vehicles.

Mr A. Graham of Auckland, proposing the idea, said that in Australia a car owner must present a “pink slip” to prove that a car has a new warrant, before a car could be registered.

This ensured that at least once a year a car had a safety check and faults had to be corrected before drivers could register their cars.

“We (Auckland branch)

are not naive enough to believe that this will cure the problem completely here, but by marrying our six-monthly check system to that used over the Tasman, we can go a long way towards making it more difficult for people to drive unwarranted vehicles,” Mr Graham said.

To ease the logistic problems of coping with everyone wanting a warrant of fitness check at the same time, a birthdate system of registration would to have replace the present anniversary date.

“We believe that the end result will be of benefit to everybody in terms of road safety, cash flow, spread of business and elimination of the long queues of impatient people waiting for attention from the poor tellers behind

post office counters,” Mr Graham said. The Auckland branch had heard claims that up to 30 per cent of vehicles buying petrol at service stations either had no warrant of fitness or had one but should not be on the road.

Delegates at the assertion's alternative fuels division annual meeting in Rotorua agreed to approach the Minister of Energy, Mr Birch, with a proposal to allow compressed natural gas cylinder filling pressures to be increased to offset any driving range loss from the switch to Maui gas.

According to the 1983 Energy Plan, the range of C.N.G.-fuelled cars will be reduced by about 11 per cent with the switch from carbon dioxide-rich Kapuni gas to Maui gas.