Thousands of cars ‘death traps’
More than 155,000 car owners have failed to submit vehicles for the National Car Test over the past two years.
Another 54,000 cars also failed the initial NCT and subsequent re-test over the same period, even though they are still likely to be in daily use on the roads. Statistics provided by the National Car Testing Service reveal that more than one in 10 drivers ignores the official notice to submit their car for the test.
A total of 156,160 people did not respond to notices sent out between 2002 and 2003 to attend the test. The figures indicate a non-compliance rate of almost 12%.
In addition, almost half of all 631,000 cars that underwent the NCT in 2003 failed the initial test the highest failure rate since it was introduced four years ago. Another 10% of vehicles did not pass the re-test last year, representing over 30,000 cars which did not meet basic safety standards. The same figure for 2002 was almost 25,000 vehicles.
Although some of the "no-shows" are explained by the scrappage of old vehicles and delays in recording the transfer of ownership, it is clear that there are still thousands of cars with potentially lethal defects.
A spokesperson for the National Safety Council said the high level of non-compliance was a matter of major concern as it raised the issue of the roadworthiness of vehicles.
"We would certainly like to see more investigation into this issue to throw light on the true number of people deliberately ignoring the NCT test," said NSC chief executive Pat Costello. However, he pointed out that the roadworthiness of vehicles was still only responsible for less than 1% of all road traffic accidents. Under legislation, all cars over four years' old must undergo the NCT test every two years.
Drivers who cannot produce an NCT certificate showing their car has passed the test are also unable to tax their vehicles. Anybody driving a car that is liable for the safety test and which does not display the NCT disc is liable for a fine of up to 444.
A garda spokesperson was unable to provide any information on the number of fines issued to motorists for failing to have an NCT certificate.
Under the NCT, vehicles are subjected to 57 different tests.
Last year, the largest problem category was headlight alignment which accounted for almost 10% of failures.
More controversially, over 19,500 cars failed for the condition of their registration plates, including many which did not have the name of the county in Irish above the number.
