Measuring the Effectiveness of Vehicle Inspection Regulations in Different States of the U.S.

Abstract

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) guideline on state motor vehicle inspection programs recommends that states should maintain a vehicle safety inspection program to reduce the crash outcomes from the number of vehicles with existing or potential conditions. Some states have started to terminate the vehicle safety inspection program because of insufficient effectiveness measures, budget constraints, and modern safer automobiles. Despite the consensus that these periodic inspection programs improve vehicle condition and improve safety, research remains inconclusive about the effect of safety inspection programs on crash outcomes. There is little recent research on the relationship between vehicle safety inspection programs and whether these programs reduce crash rates or crash severities. According to the 2011–2016 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) data, nearly 2.6% of fatal crashes happened as a result of the vehicle’s pre-existing manufacturing defects. NHTSA’s vehicle complaint database incorporates more than 1.4 million complaint reports. These reports contain extended information on vehicle-related disruptions. Around 5% of these reports involve some level of injury or fatalities. This study used these two databases to determine the effectiveness of vehicle inspection regulation programs in different states of the U.S. A statistical significance test was performed to determine the effectiveness of the vehicle safety inspection programs based on the states with and without safety inspection in place. This study concludes that there is a need for vehicle safety inspections to be continued for the reduction of vehicle complaints.

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

“…According to reports by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the USA, the risk of road crashes associated with driving a vehicle manufactured before 2000 is 71% higher than for vehicles manufactured in 2010 and later [ 9 ]. This finding, along with similar data, constitutes the main argument supporting economic subsidies intended to lower the mean age of vehicles on the road, instead of building, maintaining, and operating specialized VTI centers in those countries with VTI policies in effect [ 8 ]. Previous studies (none of which were systematic reviews) on this issue were inconclusive regarding the usefulness of VTI in reducing road crashes.…”

“…However, novel technologies and advances in traffic safety in recent years have led to declines in road crash rates, and as a result, some countries or regions within countries have opted to abolish this legal requirement [ 7 , 8 ]. According to reports by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the USA, the risk of road crashes associated with driving a vehicle manufactured before 2000 is 71% higher than for vehicles manufactured in 2010 and later [ 9 ].…”

“…It appears evident that maintaining mandatory VTI should be backed by evidence of its efficacy in reducing road crashes, rather than solely by theoretical arguments, based on its proven usefulness in detecting (and correcting, when necessary) vehicle defects potentially associated with a greater risk of causing road crash [ 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ]. In principle, the high cost of maintaining specialized testing and inspection centers and the contradictions among classic review articles available to date would appear not to justify the implementation of systematic inspections.…”

Pattern Identification from Older Bicyclist Fatal Crashes

“…The findings of the current literature review help identify contributing factors to bicycle crashes; however, understanding the overall mechanism leading to bicyclists’ fatal or injury crash occurrence, especially for 65+ bicyclists, with a view to finding potential engineering countermeasures, requires a more extensive and innovative statistical approach. There are many traffic safety studies, especially from recent years, pertaining to the use of data mining and CA methods ( 18 – 35 ) to diagnose clusters of potential factors in complex databases. Because of the nature of the data and associated research objectives, JCA, a modified variant of CA, is a good fit for the analysis.…”

Compliance, practices, and attitudes towards VTIs (Vehicle Technical Inspections) in Spain: What prevents Spanish drivers from checking up their cars?

“…This technical revision is a legal measure of both prevention and maintenance, which must guarantee that a vehicle complies with the minimum safety standards [22]. In this way, the mandatory inspection of motor vehicles is designed not only to reduce the economic losses derived from potentially avoidable traffic crashes but also to enhance the protection of lives within the road network [23]. However, road safety is multifactorial, and it is difficult to isolate the individual role of vehicle inspection in the prevention of road crashes [23].…”