ROAD TRAFFIC (AMENDMENT NO. 2) BILL

Order for Second Reading read, 4.57 p.m.

The Minister for Communications and Minister for Labour (Mr Ong Teng Cheong): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Compulsory car inspections will be introduced with effect from 2nd January, 1982. Cars which are over five years old will be affected during 1982. To start the programme, cars which are more than eight years old and whose vehicle licence (road tax) expires on or after 31st March, 1982, will be called up for inspection first. Cars between three and five years old will be affected from 1983.

The Registrar of Vehicles will notify affected car owners to have their cars inspected three months before their road tax is due for renewal. During these three months, they should have their cars repaired and brought up to the standard required to pass the inspection test. They may call either of the two authorized inspection centres, VICOM and the Automobile Association of Singapore, to make an appointment to have their cars inspected before the expiry of their road tax. If a car passes the test, a test certificate will be issued by the inspection centre. If it fails, the owner will have to send his car for repairs and have his car re-tested at the same centre until it passes the test.

When a car is due for compulsory inspection, its road tax will not be renewed by the Registrar of Vehicles unless it has been issued with a test certificate. Since cars between three and 10 years old have to be inspected once every two years and those over 10 years old annually, this condition will not apply to the car's subsequent six-monthly or yearly renewal of road tax unless it is due for an inspection. This condition of having a test certificate when renewing road tax will also not apply to cars which are below three years old and which are exempted from compulsory inspection.

The practice of tying renewal of road tax with the issue of the test certificate is adopted in other countries which have already introduced compulsory car inspections, for example, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Japan. The purpose is to ensure that a car is not allowed to be driven on the road unless it has been inspected and certified fit at the time of inspection. The non-renewal of the road tax will facilitate enforcement of this ruling.

Car owners should, however, be aware that passing the car inspection is not a guarantee that the car will be roadworthy until the next compulsory inspection is due. Cars may still be involved in an accident due to mechanical failure after it has been inspected. This is because there is no way of knowing when the mechanical condition of the car would deteriorate after it has been inspected. For this reason car owners are urged not to be complacent simply because their cars have passed the inspection test. Instead, they should always be conscious of their responsibility to check their cars regularly and to maintain them in good condition at all times for the safety of all road users.

The Road Traffic Act is now being amended to give effect to the decision to tie the renewal of the road tax with compulsory inspection of the car. The amendment will empower the Registrar of Vehicles to refuse to issue a vehicle licence to a car owner unless a test certificate has been issued for his car within three months prior to the issue of the vehicle licence.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Mr Ong Teng Cheong].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.