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Are you fit for the road?


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This is the latest clampdown on motorists by the police, with the aim of raising road safety standards. The police have been pulling motorists at the Grandstand, inspecting their vehicles, checking driving licences, tax discs and insurance. 
 

I am all for it, as I like many others have a driving licence, my vehicle is maintained, as well as up to date tax disc and insurance. 

Perhaps it’s time to introduce MOTs, which will raise vehicle roadworthiness standards, and raise money for the exchequer? Why does it take police and other government workers, time and resources on another initiative, when we have technology and civil servants to check things, like if a tax disc hasn’t been renewed? 
 

 

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Tax discs are antiquated anyway.  In an island this size you would only need a handful of mobile ANPR cameras to make sure every vehicle was taxed and insured.  

Why don”t we?  Is it another desire to retain something just because it’s quaint and we don’t like change.

The rest of the stuff these checks pull up is normally tyres, headlights etc.  an MOT isn’t going to change that.  We don’t need MOTs over here.

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Of course we need an MOT type of test.We are probably the only country in the Western world that does not have one.

in England 30% of cars tested fail a test annually meaning that at least defects are identified and corrected. I would imagine the percentage fail rate here would be well in excess of 30 %.

When it comes to road safely initiatives this and previous governments have been sorely lacking. It should not be for the Police to have to find these safety issues. It is down to the individual drivers /owners.

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A large number of defects pulled up in just one day of testing, it would appear. Although possibly also a sign of the economic times too.

Screenshot_20240302-084351_Samsung Internet.jpg

Edited by Non-Believer
Typo
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3 minutes ago, emesde said:

Of course we need an MOT type of test.We are probably the only country in the Western world that does not have one.

in England 30% of cars tested fail a test annually meaning that at least defects are identified and corrected. I would imagine the percentage fail rate here would be well in excess of 30 %.

When it comes to road safely initiatives this and previous governments have been sorely lacking. It should not be for the Police to have to find these safety issues. It is down to the individual drivers /owners.

 

I moved from the Island to N Ireland last year and have a 10 year old Peugeot with 50.000 miles serviced regularly and it needed to be re-registered and required a MOT it sailed through the MOT without a hitch, it was nothing special just changed the tyres as required oil levels and filters etc., in fact the garage offered me £500 less than money I paid for it over 4 years ago if I wanted to exchange it.

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5 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

A large number of defects pulled up in just one day of testing, it would appear. Although possibly also a sign of the economic times too.

Screenshot_20240302-084351_Samsung Internet.jpg

You know they pick which cars they stop, so these figures are irrelevant/misleading?

They aren’t going to pull in a brand new Audi.  They are going to pull in a twenty year old fiesta

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6 minutes ago, CrazyDave said:

You know they pick which cars they stop, so these figures are irrelevant/misleading?

They aren’t going to pull in a brand new Audi.  They are going to pull in a twenty year old fiesta

But the fact is regardless of age, these vehicles were in use on the public roads with these defects; not far off 1/3rd of those vehicles selected and stopped. In just one day.

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7 minutes ago, immortalpuppet said:

What was the reason for not pressing on with permanent ANPR network across the Island?

Seems like an absolute no brainer. 

There's probably a whole raft of people employed in the administration of the tax disc system who need to be kept employed. ANPR only seems to be deployed selectively as part of an occasional purge.

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1 hour ago, CrazyDave said:

You know they pick which cars they stop, so these figures are irrelevant/misleading?

They aren’t going to pull in a brand new Audi.  They are going to pull in a twenty year old fiesta

You should check the tyres and tax discs on yummy mummy fairly new Audi's on the school run, living way beyond their means me thinks.

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1 hour ago, Non-Believer said:

But the fact is regardless of age, these vehicles were in use on the public roads with these defects; not far off 1/3rd of those vehicles selected and stopped. In just one day.

They stop ones with visible defects like lights out, or which look like they are likely to have defects.

It means nothing, and an MOT wouldn’t prevent those issues anyway.  We don’t need one.

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53 minutes ago, immortalpuppet said:

What was the reason for not pressing on with permanent ANPR network across the Island?

Seems like an absolute no brainer. 

The locals would have kicked up a stink.  Don’t like change yessir.  Big brother watching etc etc.

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8 minutes ago, finlo said:

You should check the tyres and tax discs on yummy mummy fairly new Audi's on the school run, living way beyond their means me thinks.

Yummy mummy’s don’t need to worry about finances in 2024.  You are living in the past if you think they are short of cash for basic car repairs.

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