asked the Minister for Local Government the action he proposes to take as a result of the recent report Motor Car defects in Ireland by An Foras Forbartha.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Motor Car Defects.
21.
Following the completion of the research project referred to, the National Road Safety Association at my request are now engaged in a vehicle safety campaign which includes a fitness check for motor cars at various centres around the country. The main object of this campaign is to bring home to motorists the practical need for proper and regular checking of and attention to roadworthiness of their vehicles, apart from their legal obligations in this matter. The results of these checks are subject to continuing analysis as part of an examination of the issues involved in relation to possible schemes for vehicle inspection.
(Dublin Central): Are these cars checked compulsorily? The Minister said checks are carried out in certain sections of the country. Are they compulsory?
No, they are not. We have no legislation at present which would enable us to have compulsory car checks. We are attempting to find out, in whatever way we can, the type of vehicles being used on the roads, and to point out to the owners the necessity to bring them up to date. For instance, an examination was carried out by An Foras Forbartha. There was a project in Mullingar, Dublin, Sligo, Cork and Galway, and 3,282 cars were inspected. In Dublin, of the 1,299 cars submitted for voluntary inspection, 85 per cent had one or more than one major defect. In Dublin, 83 per cent of them had head lamps aimed defectively, 71 per cent transmission, 58 per cent front geometry, 48 per cent electrical system, 42 per cent tyre condition, 40 per cent parking brake imbalance, 36 per cent steering linkage and 36 per cent tyre thread faults.
The fact that it is not compulsory means that people do not all bring in their vehicles. This means we are only getting the good ones because the people with the bangers will not bring them in. The difficulty is that we desire to do something about this but the cost would be fantastic to check every motor vehicle. The question of how it could best be done is being considered. In the meantime, we are attempting to show that there are major defects even in some of the cars which are brought in. When a car is involved in an accident the Garda have it examined and, if there is something major wrong with it, this will be considered if a charge is being made. I agree a lot more needs to be done but, as of now, it does not appear that we will be able to do more for some time.
(Dublin Central): The Minister would have the number of cars over ten or 12 years of age in his Department from the Road Tax Office.
That figure would not be in the Department. It is only fair to say there are not many ten to 12 year old cars. Cars are now old at four or five years. We have not got really old ones except on occasion. Older cars are usually better kept than cars which are a couple of years old.
Whereas it is very important that a car should be road-worthy, I do not think age should be taken too much into consideration. I could never afford to have a good car until I came in here, and I would not like to see the person who had to buy a cheap old car put off the road because of the age of the car.
As Deputy Callanan says, age may not affect it. I am sure he will agree that, if a car is four or five years old and getting any reasonable kind of wear, there are moving parts some of which are bound to become defective. This is where the question Deputy Fitzpatrick asked is bound to arise. There could be the danger of a serious accident as a result of somebody having a car which might look all right because it was well kept but had a dangerous fault.