Crippling car taxes 'compromising safety'

Crippling Government tax on new cars discourages essential safety features being fitted, an Oireachtas Committee heard today.

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) claimed that Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) imposed on technology like airbags and side-impact bars can add thousands of euro to the overall purchase price.

SIMI chief executive Cyril McHugh told the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business: “Subjecting safety features on a 1900cc family car incurs VRT at 30% and adds 43% to the cost.

“Even at the lowest VRT rate (22.5%), the increase in cost to the end user is almost 30% and this is where the cost issues are most significant in the price-conscious small car sector, and where the need for safety is greatest.

“Safety features must be made as affordable as possible for car buyers.”

Mr McHugh said having VRT imposed on airbags has prevented multiple airbags from being standard in the smaller car sector, thereby depriving young and vulnerable drivers of enhanced protection.

“Our current taxation system threatens to hamper the widespread introduction of additional features.”

Mr McHugh was speaking during a discussion on reform of the insurance market with FBD Insurance, the Financial Regulator and IBEC.

Mr McHugh added: “Older vehicles tend to be more likely to be involved in accidents, either due to poor maintenance, mechanical breakdown or the inexperience of drivers.”

He said that technologies like anti-lock brake systems, traction control systems and electronic stability controls can help drivers avoid crashes.

Other features like adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping technologies will soon be fitted to vehicles.

New EU regulations require that all new cars have softer fronts as a pedestrian-protection measure.

“These improvements to car design are estimated to be capable of reducing pedestrian fatalities by up to 10% and reducing serious injuries to pedestrians by 20%,” he noted.

SIMI also called for supervised racing tracks for boy racers to take them off the roads.

Mr McHugh said: “Sweden provided facilities for boy racers to race in a supervised atmosphere.

“They will be able to come in and show off all their extras and gimmicks in a controlled atmosphere.

“It is be something that is worth looking at because it gives them an outlet.”

Committee member Ruairí Quinn complained about boy racers on roads with dragon stripes and crazy exhaust pipes.

Mr McHugh said SIMI deplored the unacceptable rate of road accidents in Ireland but called for more focus on the three Es: education, engineering and enforcement.

He said car manufacturers had invested heavily in equipment and training to ensure that vehicles are as safe as possible.

But he pointed out that mechanical factors were only responsible for 0.2% of all road collisions after driver error (88%), pedestrian error (8%) and road conditions (1.8%).

He warned that the benefits of the 1995 Scrappage Scheme, which halved the average age of cars from 12 years to six, was now being reversed.

“We now find that this age profile is increasing again as this year we will import about 70,000 used cars with an average age of over seven years,” he told the committee.