Vehicle testing rules are set to become tougher in the coming years, establishing common standards in all EU member states, following new proposals tabled by the European Commission.
For Malta, the proposals will mean that owners of old or second-hand cars with high mileage will have to start going to their VRT station on an annual basis instead of every two years.
At the same time, owners of two or three-wheelers, including motorcycles, scooters and mopeds, which until now were exempt from VRT tests, will also have to start submitting their vehicles for compulsory tests.
The Commission’s proposals, which have to be approved by member states and MEPs, are aimed at reducing road accidents and fatalities.
Apart from an increase in the frequency of the tests, the proposals will also introduce stricter and higher standards for testing garages and the personnel performing the actual tests.
According to the proposals, the testing equipment will have to fulfil certain minimum requirements – something not required at present – and inspectors performing roadworthiness tests will need a high level of skills and competences and will have to attend periodic refresher training.
Since the rules will introduce a shift in the current VRT structure, which currently includes many non-qualified mechanics, some aspects of the new rules will only become enforceable after a transitional period to give a chance to national authorities to adapt their system standards.
Judgement on whether a car is roadworthy or not will also be harmonised throughout the EU to eliminate the discrepancies among member states. Although VRT tests are compulsory throughout the EU, a car in Malta may be classified as ‘safe’ by a Maltese garage and ‘obsolete’ by a Belgian one.
This will now be eliminated through common standards on the assessment of defects to be introduced in the new regulation.
The Commission also wants to tackle kilometre fraud, something that is common particularly among vendors of second-hand cars, and establishes clearer rules on the legal quality of odometer (mileage) fraud. Compulsory registration of mileage readings at each vehicle test will be required.
It is estimated that more than five people die on European roads every day in accidents linked to technical failures which could easily be avoided by proper checks.
Six per cent of all car accidents, translating into 2,000 annual fatalities and many more injuries, are caused by technical failures while eight per cent of accidents involving motorcycles are linked to technical defects.
Recent studies in the UK and Germany indicate that up to 10 per cent of cars at any point in time have a defect that would cause them to fail the tests.
The Commission said the new proposals aim to save more than 1,200 lives a year and to avoid more than 36,000 accidents linked to technical failure.