UK tyres safety organisation, TyreSafe, has again voiced concern at the impact on road safety of the government\u2019s proposals to extend the MOT test \u2018grace period\u2019 on new vehicles to four years.<\/p>\n
Current legislation requires all new cars and motorcycles to undergo the first test at three years old.
\nThe comment is in response to the\u00a0unveiling of the proposals\u00a0on Sunda \u00a0January 22 by Transport Minister Andrew Jones, billed as a \u2018boost for motorists\u2019 as part of the plans to save them \u00a3100m a year.<\/p>\n
The Minister commented: \u201cWe have some of the safest roads in the world and\u00a0MOT\u00a0tests play an important role in ensuring the standard of vehicles on our roads. New vehicles are much safer than they were 50 years ago and so it is only right we bring the\u00a0MOT\u00a0test up to date to help save motorists money where we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
A\u00a0consultation period\u00a0on the MOT extension is open for comments until April 16 at 11.45pm.
\n\u201cExtending the time until the first MOT test has been proposed several times in recent years and each time it has been rejected because of the negative impact on road safety,\u201d said TyreSafe Chairman Stuart Jackson. \u201cWhile, of course, vehicles are certainly safer and more reliable than they were 50 years ago, \u2018maintenance components\u2019, such as tyres, still need the owner to regularly check and service their vehicle, which is not universally the case by any means.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, evidence, including that drawn from\u00a0TyreSafe\u2019s tread depth survey\u00a0in partnership with Highways England, shows millions of Britain\u2019s motorists do not check or maintain tyres, and only replace them when required to do so in order to pass the MOT. Even then, one-in-20 vehicles fails its first MOT due to tyre defects making it likely that any extension of time until the first MOT test will result in more defective and dangerous tyres and vehicles on our roads.<\/p>\n
\u201cExtending the first MOT to four years will not be a boost to motorists if it is at the expense of their safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs such, TyreSafe is urging road safety organisations to send in their comments on the proposal,\u201d concluded Jackson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UK tyres safety organisation, TyreSafe, has again voiced concern at the impact on road safety of the government\u2019s proposals to extend the MOT test \u2018grace period\u2019 on new vehicles to four years. Current legislation requires all new cars and motorcycles to undergo the first test at three years old. The comment is in response to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,46],"tags":[785],"class_list":["post-16249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-tyresafe","tag-tyresafe"],"yoast_head":"\n