http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/motorists-slugged-for-defects/story-e6frea6u-1226058563490
VEHICLE owners hit with defect notices will have to pay new on-the-spot fines, expected to rake in millions for the State Government.
The new fines - $120 for a minor defect and $250 for a major defect - will apply from July 1.
Minor defects include bald tyres, faulty brake lights and broken windscreen wipers, while major defects include faulty brakes, illegal modifications and faulty suspension. Defect notices do not currently incur a fine, although a vehicle owner must pay $26 to have the notice removed after repairs are made.
The Motor Trade Association's SA president, Colin Clark, said a blown light bulb was an example of a fault which would incur a $120 fine and a defect sticker.
"That motorist will have to have the defect repaired and then drive out to the Regency Park (the Transport Department's) inspection facility or a police station and pay to have the sticker removed," Mr Clark said.
"Surely, police resources are better used on community safety than removing defect notices."
The Government last night played down suggestions the move was a sneaky revenue-raising measure.
Asked last night if the Government had intended to inform motorists about the new fines, a spokesman for Transport Minister Patrick Conlon said "it was in the Budget papers, which were released in September last year".
"It's never been a secret," he said.
The fine print of last September's Budget papers reveals that the Government expects to receive $7.9 million in revenue over three years from the new fines.
But Mr Conlon's spokesman denied the measure was intended to raise revenue.
He said the new system was designed to make it "fairer" for drivers who had minor defects and needed to go to the Regency Park inspection station.
"It's not revenue raising, it's about increasing road safety and getting bad cars off the road," he said.
In response, MTA executive director John Chapman said: "I do not think it will be fairer."
He said motorists could take their car to their local police station and have the defect sticker removed, but under the new system, they would have to pay a fine as well.
He said the introduction of the new system highlighted the fact that road worthiness was a problem.
In the latest edition of the MTA's Motor Trade magazine, Mr Clark also writes that car mechanics should have the power to issue defect notices on cars at the time of compulsory inspections - whenever a vehicle changes owners.
The MTA is campaigning for certified service centres to inspect vehicles and have the power to remove defect stickers imposed by police.
Mr Clark told The Advertiser he believed qualified mechanics in well-equipped service centres were better able to evaluate the roadworthiness of a vehicle than a police officer was at a police station.
He said the State Government could empower the vehicle repair and service industry to make the repair and then remove a defect notice - under a "simple and regulated system".
He questioned if the new process was purely about road safety, or government revenue raising.
"If the Government was genuinely looking to increase road safety by the removal of unroadworthy vehicles they would look at mandatory vehicle inspections ... at change of ownership," Mr Clark said.
Mr Conlon's spokesman said the Transport Department would continue discussions with the MTA about its concerns, including this issue.
RAA safety manager Wendy Bevan said the RAA did not want mandatory inspections at change of ownership.
"We support random roadside inspections, by police or authorised inspectors," she said.
She said cars could be worked on to pass an inspection if it were known one was being made, and then become unroadworthy again later. Random roadside checks would overcome that.
She said the RAA would need to examine how the process of new fines for defects would work before commenting.
SA Police said only minor defects which did not require mechanical expertise were referred to police stations; more complex defects went to qualified mechanics at the Transport Department's inspection station.
Opposition transport spokesman Steven Griffiths said SA had one of the oldest vehicle fleets in the nation and it was important for road safety they were kept in roadworthy condition.
