Vehicles not fit for the road

[cce427]

I see this was discussed here some time ago but even more common today. As a retired mechanic I see so many vehicles EVERY DAY that are not fit for the road due to under inflated tyres, no brake lights, missing rear wiper blades, unreadable number plates, missing door mirrors, missing bumpers, failed headlights, badly aligned headlights and that was just this morning, drives my wife mad :-) If I see under inflated tyres I try and make the driver aware. all these offences are normaly dealt with by a caution and a chance to rectify but with no traffic cops in my area they just get more and more common. I think there should be an online app that we can report to and it simply sends the owner a letter and a period to rectify.

And before you start I am not a grass just concerned for the safety of others

[Vipers]

What annoys me is those with a rear wiper, which unless I am wrong, includes a wash as well, drive around with the rear window obliterated with dirt.

Oh and you mentioned headlights, some years ago I was in stop/start traffic, car behind had full beam on, I got out and said would you mind dipping your headlights they are blinding, driver said they were dipped…….

And those with one actually stuck on full beam.

Edited by Vipers on Thursday 19th January 11:54

[Dingu]

Leaving the possible exaggeration to one side. I’m not sure allowing the public the ability to report these things triggering a letter with a deadline is a particularly good idea as:
- How would compliance be verified?
- How would the accuracy of reports be verified?
- Without point 2 it seems primed for being abused; or
- whilst you may be able to tell these things the majority aren’t, this is unlikely to stop an appreciable proportion thinking they can tell and reporting anyway

As an aside the rear wiper isn’t a requirement is it?

[cce427]

Dingu said:

Leaving the possible exaggeration to one side. I’m not sure allowing the public the ability to report these things triggering a letter with a deadline is a particularly good idea as:
- How would compliance be verified?
- How would the accuracy of reports be verified?
- Without point 2 it seems primed for being abused; or
- whilst you may be able to tell these things the majority aren’t, this is unlikely to stop an appreciable proportion thinking they can tell and reporting anyway

As an aside the rear wiper isn’t a requirement is it?

Well I have seen all of those in the last three days so not much of an exaggeration ! I have dash cam footage of four of them so compliance and accuracy of reports gets easier by the day as more people have dash cams

If someone is not aware there is an issue with another vehicle they would not report it surely ?

When I used to take cars for an MOT if something is fitted to a vehicle it has to work, like a spare tyre, if it is missing it is fine, if you have one and it is bald its a fail. Rear wipers are the same unless the law has changed.

[jamei303]

Given you can get panel van versions of hatchbacks I don't see how a dirty rear window should be cause for alarm whilst an obscured metal panel in its place is just fine.

[Dingu]

cce427 said:

Well I have seen all of those in the last three days so not much of an exaggeration ! I have dash cam footage of four of them so compliance and accuracy of reports gets easier by the day as more people have dash cams

If someone is not aware there is an issue with another vehicle they would not report it surely ?

When I used to take cars for an MOT if something is fitted to a vehicle it has to work, like a spare tyre, if it is missing it is fine, if you have one and it is bald its a fail. Rear wipers are the same unless the law has changed.

I had false reports by the unknowledgeable in mind to be honest rather than missing it.


Regardless the practicalities probably need some thought regarding ensuring compliance (if there is a deadline) and the correctness of the report. You mention dash cam but I’m not sure staffing the review of each report is necessarily a good use of money with the current state of other public services. It would require less staff if there were simply an appeals process for the person sent the letter, however I doubt a lot of people would welcome the telling on people aspect, however well intentioned.

ETA: this does back up the RACs opposition to moving MOTs to every 2 years.

Edited by Dingu on Thursday 19th January 12:39

[Shaw Tarse]

cce427 said:

Well I have seen all of those in the last three days so not much of an exaggeration ! I have dash cam footage of four of them so compliance and accuracy of reports gets easier by the day as more people have dash cams

If someone is not aware there is an issue with another vehicle they would not report it surely ?

When I used to take cars for an MOT if something is fitted to a vehicle it has to work, like a spare tyre, if it is missing it is fine, if you have one and it is bald its a fail. Rear wipers are the same unless the law has changed.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/car-par...

[Castrol for a knave]

Vipers said:

What annoys me is those with a rear wiper, which unless I am wrong, includes a wash as well, drive around with the rear window obliterated with dirt.

.

Edited by Vipers on Thursday 19th January 11:54

[coldel]

The idea of having a function to report things like tyres that are low on pressure to etc. really is quite impossible. It would take a huge department to deal with that sort of information throughput ... checking individual dashcam footage if you say received just 5000 a day is just (given there are tens of millions of cars in the UK) completely unimplementable. And I suspect it will be abused.

Ultimately it comes down to how many cases of injury and/or death occur due to these issues? Are we talking significant numbers or is it literally it annoys people?

If its worthwhile, we could have a decent marketing campaign by the government to educate people and the general public instead of being sanctimonious to others and just being kind and helpful could solve the problem themselves.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

Poorly maintained cars is a fact of life as to many, they're simply a tool. I too, like most people, observe problems with vehicles often. Could I be bothered to log the number plate, the offending item etc? Absolutely not and I'd hazard a guess that 99.99999% of people would feel the same.

[Bobley]

The problem is more deeply rooted than just poor maintenance.

My MOT tester was telling me he had a past client phone from Spain, the clients MOT was running out and he needed to sort something. The MOT chap offered to book the car in so that it was legal to travel for the test but the client wanted a new ticket posting out to Spain. The MOT inspector declined. When the tester checked the reg number the following week, the aforementioned car was showing a fresh MOT....

Ditto rusted out cars or cars with huge numbers of defects. MOT fails... then showing up on the system with fresh MOTs issued by a main dealer somewhere...

[coldel]

Bobley said:

The problem is more deeply rooted than just poor maintenance.

My MOT tester was telling me he had a past client phone from Spain, the clients MOT was running out and he needed to sort something. The MOT chap offered to book the car in so that it was legal to travel for the test but the client wanted a new ticket posting out to Spain. The MOT inspector declined. When the tester checked the reg number the following week, the aforementioned car was showing a fresh MOT....

Ditto rusted out cars or cars with huge numbers of defects. MOT fails... then showing up on the system with fresh MOTs issued by a main dealer somewhere...

That is something quite different, in terms of illegally falsifying vehicle documents. However I would say the number of these is much smaller than the failure of general upkeep of things like tyre pressures etc.

[Cold]

Shaw Tarse said:

cce427 said:

Well I have seen all of those in the last three days so not much of an exaggeration ! I have dash cam footage of four of them so compliance and accuracy of reports gets easier by the day as more people have dash cams

If someone is not aware there is an issue with another vehicle they would not report it surely ?

When I used to take cars for an MOT if something is fitted to a vehicle it has to work, like a spare tyre, if it is missing it is fine, if you have one and it is bald its a fail. Rear wipers are the same unless the law has changed.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/car-par...

So what our keen vehicle defect spotter will be doing is reporting vehicles for defects which aren't even testable items. But y'know, "Cahmmruhh" while pointing furtively towards the top of their windscreen.

[cce427]

coldel said:

The idea of having a function to report things like tyres that are low on pressure to etc. really is quite impossible. It would take a huge department to deal with that sort of information throughput ... checking individual dashcam footage if you say received just 5000 a day is just (given there are tens of millions of cars in the UK) completely unimplementable. And I suspect it will be abused.

Ultimately it comes down to how many cases of injury and/or death occur due to these issues? Are we talking significant numbers or is it literally it annoys people?

If its worthwhile, we could have a decent marketing campaign by the government to educate people and the general public instead of being sanctimonious to others and just being kind and helpful could solve the problem themselves.

Again it is down to money and how many people are killed, just part of the lawless society it seems to be coming. Personaly I would not report low pressure tyres, I knock on car windows and tell them or leave a note on the windscreen if I can. I was on a Motorway awareness course a couple of years ago and the tutor asked how many people checked their car with a quick walk around and I was the only one, also so many Highway code changes nobody including me knew about so maybe a government awareness campain is the way to go, as a qualified electrician I had to re qualify regularly as do gas engineers maybe driver need to update their knowledge ;-)

[cce427]

Shaw Tarse said:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/car-par...

Agreed, only going by experience, I used three MOT centres over the years and all failed for inoperative rear wiper and bald spare tyre so I stand, or sit corrected

[Deranged Rover]

jamei303 said:

Given you can get panel van versions of hatchbacks I don't see how a dirty rear window should be cause for alarm whilst an obscured metal panel in its place is just fine.

Given this magnificent piece of logic, i assume you always climb into the rear seats of five door cars through the front door and over the seat, because you would have to do that in the three door version?

[Hammersia]

cce427 said:

I see this was discussed here some time ago but even more common today. As a retired mechanic I see so many vehicles EVERY DAY that are not fit for the road due to under inflated tyres, no brake lights, missing rear wiper blades, unreadable number plates, missing door mirrors, missing bumpers, failed headlights, badly aligned headlights and that was just this morning, drives my wife mad :-) If I see under inflated tyres I try and make the driver aware. all these offences are normaly dealt with by a caution and a chance to rectify but with no traffic cops in my area they just get more and more common. I think there should be an online app that we can report to and it simply sends the owner a letter and a period to rectify.

And before you start I am not a grass just concerned for the safety of others

It's not lack of traffic cops. I've followed a traffic cop for miles down the M1 who was behind a shed car with the rear suspension completely collapsed, didn't pull him over or anything, just carried on.

It's idleness.

[Chris32345]

coldel said:

That is something quite different, in terms of illegally falsifying vehicle documents. However I would say the number of these is much smaller than the failure of general upkeep of things like tyre pressures etc.

About time mot ramps had an anpr camera on so the reg plates needs to match the Vin number entered for the test and it then saved snap of it when the test has been started for a additional security step
Now wouldn't stop people making fake plates up ect to teat cars that arnt present but definitely make it harder to fake

[coldel]

Chris32345 said:

coldel said:

That is something quite different, in terms of illegally falsifying vehicle documents. However I would say the number of these is much smaller than the failure of general upkeep of things like tyre pressures etc.

About time mot ramps had an anpr camera on so the reg plates needs to match the Vin number entered for the test and it then saved snap of it when the test has been started for a additional security step
Now wouldn't stop people making fake plates up ect to teat cars that arnt present but definitely make it harder to fake

It could well be hearsay but I just got my car MOT and chatting with the MOT tester about fraud tickets and he said now they are checking number plates on cameras against MOT issuance. So if you clock a camera at the same time you are getting an MOT its got you. Chances are slim though of that happening. The best way would be some AI that takes all registrations captured on camera and that database cross referenced against the MOT issuance. You could then see if the car is on the road at the same time its meant to be on a ramp.

At the end of the day, people will always find a way to dodge it if they want to.

[MG CHRIS]

cce427 said:

Dingu said:

Leaving the possible exaggeration to one side. I’m not sure allowing the public the ability to report these things triggering a letter with a deadline is a particularly good idea as:
- How would compliance be verified?
- How would the accuracy of reports be verified?
- Without point 2 it seems primed for being abused; or
- whilst you may be able to tell these things the majority aren’t, this is unlikely to stop an appreciable proportion thinking they can tell and reporting anyway

As an aside the rear wiper isn’t a requirement is it?

Well I have seen all of those in the last three days so not much of an exaggeration ! I have dash cam footage of four of them so compliance and accuracy of reports gets easier by the day as more people have dash cams

If someone is not aware there is an issue with another vehicle they would not report it surely ?

When I used to take cars for an MOT if something is fitted to a vehicle it has to work, like a spare tyre, if it is missing it is fine, if you have one and it is bald its a fail. Rear wipers are the same unless the law has changed.

Wow tell me you know nothing about mot laws. Rear wipers have never been a mot fail same as a bald spare tyre. Oh and not everything on a car that is fitted needs to work either. Stop talking nonsense.