Norwegians are starting to revolt against the compulsory motor vehicle inspections they must undergo every other year, to satisfy EU authorities. Now they have some support from the national Institute of Transport Economics, a state research and development agency.
The institute concluded in a new report that the vehicle inspections are costly for society and have little effect on traffic safety. Researchers told newspaper Aftenposten it would be much better to only demand inspections of vehicles that are more than 12 years old, instead of from when the car is just four years old.
“We already knew when the so-called EU-control was introduced that it wouldn’t have much effect on the risk of the vehicle getting into an accident,” Lasse Fridstrøm, chief of the institute, told Aftenposten. He and many others now question an EU proposal to demand that all private cars driven more than 160,000 kilometers be inspected every year, along with mopeds, motorcycles, trailers and tractors that can reach speeds of more than 40 kilometers per hour.
Many Norwegians view the inspections as an expensive nuisance and Fridstrøm agrees they’re unnecessary. He said that two studies show only heavy vehicles would benefit from frequent inspections.
newsinenglish.no staff
