Scrapping Annual Car Safety Tests Would Be Disastrous
Imagine a society where no car was checked to make sure it was safe and roadworthy. Where people could leave bald tyres on their cars until they burst, where rust was left to run riot, causing catastrophic mid-corner failures, and where windscreens can get cracked, smeared and otherwise obscured with no one to put the owners in their place until it’s too late.
That’s exactly what the UK government, backed by at least one major daily newspaper, is calling for: the abolition of the annual MOT test. The Ministry of Transport test has been Britain’s standardised annual used car safety check since 1960, covering an ever-increasing number of parts and systems along the way.
It makes sure that a driver can see out of the windscreen properly. It checks that the brake pedal isn’t wired to the reversing lights (I really did see that once), and that the headlights aren’t angled straight into oncoming traffic’s eyes. There are dozens of safety issues that the MOT test covers. Without it, the potential for all sorts of avoidable carnage is limitless.
Surely it’s better to pay the £25-£50ish fee and know that your car is basically safe. We all know that the MOT, and the EU and US equivalents, aren’t foolproof and don’t cover everything, but getting that certificate saying your car is in good health is still a vital – and always satisfying – part of car ownership.
It’s absolutely crucial that we keep the test. It’s the only barrier stopping society’s corner-cutters from stopping paying for essential maintenance. Many of us have mental libraries of anecdotes featuring friends, family, strangers who couldn’t give a monkey’s about stuff like tyres, brakes, lights, windscreen wipers, exhausts, suspension or anything else on a car, and only pay for repairs when they’re essentially forced to.
A friend of my brother’s turned up at his place once, where we were all getting together for a movie and a takeaway. She parked her Peugeot 206 on the drive and came inside. After a while she said to him: “Steve, you know a bit about cars, don’t you? Mine feels really funny, especially in the rain…”
Out he went. From the front door he could already see that both tyres on the closest side were almost flat. Same the other side. All four tyres were different brands and three were totally bald. The car had no MOT certificate because the dopey owner knew neither what it was nor that she was obliged to have one. She was lucky she hadn’t ended up in a wall, or injuring someone else. These people inspire a cold fury in me – and I’m sure the same goes for you.
Remove the annual checks, where those too ignorant or cheap to fix their cars of their own volition are legally forced to comply with roadworthiness standards, and how many dangerous faults will go unfixed? How many accidents waiting to happen will become accidents that have just happened? How many years down the line, and how many lives lost, will we reach before we realise what a ridiculous mistake scrapping the MOT test was?
Comments
Why on earth would you want to remove MOTs?
Yes it’s easier now for old classics and some beaters that people would love
But it’s bad for everyone else right?
“It’s better for classics”
Yeah, because I want to drive my Ford GT40 and suddenly get rear ended by a guy who has broken brakes and worn out tyres
It hardly would hardly even make a difference for classic cars. Classic cars enjoy a non-compliance permit in virtually every country that has such an annual safety test. If you have a car that’s older than thirty years original condition and want to register it in the EU, all you have to do is retrofitting indicators if it didn’t have them from the factory. That’s (understandably) the only compromise you have to make.
The goverment recently made MOT checks strickter, i highly doubt they will be completely axing it, or if they do then bring out another form of vehicle inspection
This is more proof of the government trying to find reasons to ban human drivers i feel like
Your argument seems to make sense until you realise that countries without annual safety tests don’t have disproportionally high accident figures compared to countries that do. When there is something wrong with someones car most mechanics will urge them to fix it anyway. Personally it just seems like a massive inconvenience to have to pay to get my car checked every year.
Your argument seems to make sense until you realise that countries without annual safety tests don’t have disproportionally high accident figures compared to countries that do.
That’s bullshit. The amount of deaths in traffic accidents relative to the population in the USA is considerably higher than it is in Europe (where the annual safety tests are much stricter). To be exact, you are twice as likely to die in a traffic accident in the USA than in Europe. It that isn’t “disproportionally high”, then I don’t know what is.
Less mot, more crashes, more speed cameras in dangerous zones
man ur just fear-mongering
Scrapping the MOT test is like skydiving without checking your reserve chute, or going deep sea fishing without checking your oxygen tank - it’s just stupid.
thats called taking YOUR OWN risk. You should have the freedom to be as safe or as reckless as you want. It all comes down to common sense and what you believe personally.
That moment you realize Brits are so brainwashed by their authoritarian government that CAR ENTHUSIASTS get concerned when the government wants to give them MORE FREEDOM to modify their cars… amazing.
The only reasonable explanation is that the post and comments are paid for by some lobbying entity who wants to keep MOTs.
It’s not a question of modification - it’s because us enthusiasts don’t want to share the road with idiots who don’t know anything about car maintenance and drive neglected, dangerous cars.
Have you ever been to Social studies class? The UK isn’t an authoritarian government…
Oh yeah, because I want to drive my modified Mustang on the same road as a guy that drives a minivan, with 4 different tyres, that are all 10 years old, shreded to pieces, that has cheap and worn out brakes, broken suspension and windshield that has a crack so he can’t see me. Yeah, I’d love to do that
You seem to be under the impression that we can’t already modify our cars as we like? Pretty much anything goes here so long as its safe.
In all honesty, most canadian provinces wont require a safety check, fewer dont require an emmission either. For the most part, people do keep their cars in reasonable shape and wont drive them beyond their safe limits.
You do get the one person here and there that has a car that really shouldnt be on the road but our harsh winters usually sort those cars out by not letting them make it through the cold months.
Cars do require safety certificates when they tranfer hands in Ontario and these tests have gotten really strict as of late. In most cases, mechanics want to see brand new rotors, pads, tires and for the body to be in reasonable shape.
So it may not be all that bad and save you a little coin every year.
Im Quebec, I think it would be good to have an annual check for cars older than 8 years old. Those cars were probably a lease for the first 3-4 years and the second if not the third owner might be neglecting it. This way, they will ensure that any car on the road are safe, cops won’t be able to pull you over for dumb reason and the extra money could help to repair the roads.
I was about to say that most Canada doesn’t have any of that and everyone seems to keep their cars in reasonable ishh condition
If the MOT was scrapped, my MX5 would suddenly become legal again. As much as everything in me wants to be back driving that car, I know that it’s not in a safe condition, and, as much as MOTs can deliver heartbreak, that’s more than worth it to know that not only my own, but every other car on the road is safe to be driven
Only problem I have with MOT in my country at least, is the fact that all it does is make modified cars not run on streets. Most people who own a car that cannot simply be legal bribe the authorization with as little as 20$.
But I’m all pro MOT. If it saves one life, it’s worth the hustle
Thank goodness we don’t have safety checks here in my part of Canada. I was able to drive a beautiful (rusted to the bone) SC400 (Soarer) as my first car. I can have modifications without having to take them off every year for checks. Best of all, the world is not falling apart because everyone drives dangerous grenades, as this article would suggest. But I admit an MOT test makes it easier to find older cars in good shape.
bi-partisan and level-headed u sir r the most rational person on here
Sure, scrapping MOT tests would make modified (decat, dpf deletes, straight pipes) cars easier to own but it’s not worth losing the safety checks for. Plus, how would we know what a used cars life was like without MOT history?
Carfax if u have that over there is a good source