What Car? Is urging the Government to ditch a plan to introduce two-yearly MOT tests. At present, all vehicles over three years old must have an MOT test every year. Under the new proposals motorists will only have to have their cars checked every other year.
The new proposals also mean that new cars will not have their first test until they are four rather than three years old.
According to Government statistics 3% of all fatal accidents are caused by vehicle defects. That means that of the 3201 fatalities on Britain’s roads in 2005, 96 were caused by defective vehicles. Dodgy cars also caused 580 serious injuries and 4777 slight injuries.
Currently 29% of UK cars already fail the annual test, of those 14.9% relate to defective lights, 11% steering faults, 10% brakes and 8% down to tyres. The next biggest failure rate is down to emission and visibility problems.
Customers thinking they may save money are being miss-lead as the danger here is that MOT test prices may rise as garages close due to lack of business and competition declines. Modern cars may be more reliable but things still go wrong making the car faulty and dangerous.
I am not to sure who is benefiting here, but surely the emphasis has to be on safety. So by an annual MOT check, faulty and potentially dangerous cars will be weeded out thus making the roads safer for everyone.
Jackie Violet