Uneven standards mean unsafe cars

Press, 19 June 1986, Page 8

Uneven standards mean unsafe cars

PA Wellington Uneven standards of inspection for warrants of fitness are causing unsafe vehicles to be driven on motorways, according to a member of the National Roads Board. The Municipal Association delegate, Mr Fred Thomas, told a board discussion of ways of preventing serious accidents on motorways that standards of vehicle maintenance had slipped. This resulted in vehicles coming on to motorways which were not necessarily capable of being driven in safety at motorway speeds. “There are garages which are not applying the same strict standards of inspection for warrants of fitness; and some are even giving warrants without even having a

good look at the car,” Mr Thomas said. He suggested another kind of inspection should be introduced, which would be made by a public body capable of applying more objective inspection standards. Although the board was considering erecting barriers along motorway median strips; some board members felt that other areas should be looked at in an attempt to reduce major accidents on motorways and main roads. The Director of Reading for the Ministry of Works, Mr Ron Fisher, said the background work for a report on motorway barriers was well advanced, but the report itself was not yet ready. He said there were a large number of barrier systems under study, and the chief highways engin-

eer, Mr Evan Burt, was studying further systems in Canada and the United States. Among the suggestions received by the board for motorway barriers was one that flax or toetoe bushes should be planted along the median strips as a low cost accident-pre-vention measure. The Roads Board chairman and Minister of Works, Mr Colman, said a major consideration in the debate over motorway barriers was that of cost. “One kind of barrier costs $250,000 a kilometre, and that is a lot of money. “The problem is not as simple as appears on the surface, as you have to determine which kind of barrier is most appropriate for each particular section of road,” he said.