Your annual trip to the garage to get your car inspected may be about to come to an end, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The Texas Senate last night voted to do away with annual safety inspections. State Sen. Don Huffines (R-Dallas), whose family is one of the largest car dealership operators in the state, says there is no correlation whatsoever between an annual safety inspection, and lower rates of accidents on the highways.
He cited National Transportation Safety Board figures.
"They could not discern there was any safety benefit, so in 1976, they quit requiring states to have this program," Huffines said.
Texas is now one of only 14 states that mandate an annual safety inspection.
Experts say the annual inspection made sense in the 1950s, when vehicles were inherently far more dangerous than they are today. But they say due to major advances in vehicle safety, design, and engineering, fewer than 2% of all accidents today can be blamed on problems with the vehicle that could have been remedied through a safety inspection.
"There are numerous peer reviewed studies that demonstrate that vehicle inspections have no impact on accident, injury, or fatality rates," Huffines said.
Huffines and other Senators said the requirement for an annual safety inspection is really a tax on Texans, The state gets $7.50 of the $14.50 cost of an annual inspection.
It has mainly been lobbying by garages and auto shops, which get the other $7.00, which have kept the annual safety inspection program alive in Texas.
But State Sen. Eddie Lucio isn't convinced that there is no correlation between inspections and vehicle safety.
"I am going to have trouble sleeping, knowing that my grandchildren are going to be on Texas roads with hundreds, if not thousands, of unsafe cars," he said.
Supporters of eliminating the safety inspection pointed out that police will still ticket motorists who have vehicle safety problems, like burned out lights.
IMAGE: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY