Effect of Periodic Vehicle Inspection on Road Crashes and Injuries: A Systematic Review

Abstract

This systematic review was conducted to determine the effect of periodic motor vehicle inspections on road crashes and injuries, compared to less exposure to periodic inspections or no inspections. The Medline, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were used to search the literature. Ecological studies were specifically excluded. A reverse search of the results with these databases and of other identified narrative reviews was also performed. Of the 5065 unique references initially extracted, only six of them met the inclusion criteria and were selected for review: one experimental study, two cohort studies with an internal comparison group, two cohort studies without a comparison group, and one case–control study. Two authors independently extracted the information and assessed the quality of each study. Due to the heterogeneity of the designs and the intervention or comparison groups used, quantitative synthesis of the results was not attempted. Except for the case–control study, which showed a significant association between road crashes and the absence of a valid vehicle inspection certificate, the other studies showed either a small reduction in crash rates (around 9%), no association, or a higher crash rate in vehicles with more inspections. In all observational studies, the risk of residual confounding bias was significant and could have explained the results. Therefore, although the research reviewed here suggests that periodic inspection may be associated with a slight reduction in road crashes, the marked heterogeneity along with probable residual confounding in most reports prevented us from establishing causality for this association.

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“…In the study by [24], a systematic review was performed to determine the effect of VTIs on road crashes and injuries and experiences with fewer or non-periodic inspections were compared. The authors suggest that periodic inspection is associated with a slight decrease in road crashes and they outline the need to conduct further studies that provide conclusive scientific evidence.…”

Model for Sustainable Evaluation of the Impact of the Total Number of Centers for Technical Inspections of Motor Vehicles on the Occurrence and Consequences of Traffic Accidents in an Area

“…The conclusions of these studies and research are generally divided. A first group of researchers [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] came to the conclusion that TIV has an impact on the state of traffic safety. Another group of researchers [25][26][27] came to the conclusion that TIV has no impact on the occurrence of traffic accidents and the state of traffic safety.…”

Technical Inspections of Agricultural Machinery and Their Influence on Environmental Impact

“…Martín-delosReyes et al [6] reviewed the existing literature on the effect of vehicle roadworthiness inspections in road accidents. They highlighted the wide variety of results; nevertheless, it was concluded that periodic vehicle inspections are associated with a slight reduction in road accidents.…”