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Car safety checks: Is two years too long? MORE INFO
Is it a safe idea for Virginia to have vehicle inspections once every two years
Date published: 12/19/2007
By KELLY HANNON Stafford Tire & Auto does about 2,000 vehicle safety inspections in a year. Out of every 10 vehicles it checks, typically one car or truck needs repairs to pass, said Darwin Crawford, a manager at the inspection station on U.S. 17. So, he was surprised to hear Gov. Tim Kaine has proposed dropping vehicle inspections as an annual requirement. If Kaine's budget proposal is adopted by the General Assembly, vehicle inspections would be required once every two years. The price would be $20, instead of the annual $16 fee. Postponing inspections may be popular with motorists, who crowd inspection stations at the end of every month to beat the deadline. But the change will lead to unsafe vehicles driving Virginia roads, said Crawford, who oversees state inspections at Stafford Tire & Auto. "Those repairs that are needed now, if you go two years, it's going to be even worse," Crawford said. The problem is not limited to older models, he said. "We had a car in here, a 2006, with no brake lights. It had 26,000 miles on the car and no brake lights and the driver didn't know it," Crawford said. Between 7 and 7.5 million vehicles are inspected every year in Virginia, according to Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller. State Police receives 50 cents from every $16 inspection fee. Moving the inspections to every other year for motorists means state police will lose around $1.8 million, Geller said. Efforts to get an opinion on the measure from AAA Mid-Atlantic were unsuccessful yesterday. The move would also affect 4,300 safety inspection stations around the state, and their 14,000 certified inspectors. Vehicle inspection laws vary widely from state to state. Like Virginia, North Carolina requires an annual safety inspection. Maryland requires vehicle safety inspections when a title changes hands, said Buel C. Young, Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration spokesman. So Maryland drivers only need a safety inspection when they purchase a vehicle, and in most cases, new cars and trucks have already been inspected. The District of Columbia requires a safety inspection once every two years. Changing the vehicle safety inspections in Virginia will not affect the schedule for emissions testing, a requirement for Northern Virginia residents including Stafford County. Emissions testing will still be required for cars in Stafford once every two years. Staff librarian Craig Schulin contributed to this story. Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436Email: khannon@freelancestar.com
Date published: 12/19/2007
Here's a good example...
(posted by
roadraid
, May 31, 2008 3:02 pm)
of why inspections are necessary. http://fredericksburg.com/News/Web/2008/052008/0527wilson People are too unreliable and irrisponsible to keep from hurting each other. "expired state inspection" on the trailer. There you go.
Just read the research . . .
(posted by
decomm54
, May 30, 2008 11:19 am)
on the effectiveness of vehicle safety inspections at this link:http://www.allbusiness.com/specialty-businesses/155310-1.html
There are many more recent studies like it, showing these inspections don't do anything but make money for the politicians and mechanics. The classic government boondoggle program. End them all, everywhere. Just a waste of peoples time and money.
VA Inspections Do Not Work..Just Get Rid OF Them
(posted by
Gnhntn
, May 27, 2008 8:39 am)
I say just get rid of the inspection. I have lived in DE, FL and now VA. VA has inspections once a year, and they are more a hassle then anything else, and not needed more then every other year, at the very most. DE if you buy a new vehicle you don't need your first inspection for 5 years, and then it is every other year after that, by the state, not individual garages. And, FL doesn't have inspection. I have seen more cars on the road in VA that need work done to them then I have in either DE or FL.
No. forget it
(posted by
decomm54
, May 26, 2008 10:18 am)
In fact scrap the whole program. Many recent research studies can't find any evidence mandatory vehicle safety inspections decrease accident rates. Just a boondoggle program to make money for politicians and mechanics. If anyone doesn't believe this, do a google search on "vehicle safety inspections" and you'll bring up at least half a dozen or more recent research studies showing this. Thats why only 18 states still have these programs, and three have bills right now (2008) trying to end them
Every Two years is good
(posted by
Fade2Black
, Dec. 20, 2007 1:18 am)
The due date for the car inspection should coincide with the registration of the tags.
The majority of what I am seeing in the article are issues with the loss of money. I lived in Maryland and cars where not exploding because they were not inspected yearly. Stop holding peoples hands. If they don't take care of their cars then they will just break down. If the main concern is inspections then just make it $32 every two years.
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