An ongoing debate between Pennsylvania legislators, especially over the past year, has been whether or not the annual vehicle safety inspection program is worth requiring of all light-duty (personal) vehicles. Well, the numbers are in and there is proof that the program is helping to keep vehicles maintained and in safe driving condition, according to a recent study published by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, PA.
Unlike the federally-mandated safety inspections for large trucks, rail, and air transport, personal vehicles have state-mandated programs, even though personal automobiles are the leading source of transit. As of today, only eleven states require annual safety inspections for personal vehicles, five states require a modified inspection program every few years, and the remaining states have no required vehicle safety inspection schedule.
There are misconceptions about the low, often-cited 2% inspection failure rate, making it seem like the time and effort that go into vehicle safety inspections aren’t justified – making inspections an unnecessary burden on taxpayers, state governments and vehicle owners. According to Dana Peck, dual Ph.D. student in CMU's Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) and first author, "[the study] looks into the detail of the vehicle safety inspection program in Pennsylvania from a maintenance point of view, rather than a final pass/fail point of view."
By combining data from anonymized vehicle registration data and anonymized safety inspection data, it is calculated that about 12%-18% of light duty vehicles in PA (corresponding to 1-2 million vehicles) initially fail the safety inspection in a given year – these vehicles require maintenance. While many factors can contribute to a vehicle requiring maintenance, such as vehicle miles traveled, it is important to note that even brand new vehicles have a non-zero failure rate. Failure rates were further analyzed by taking into account the urban/rural county classification, age and the odometer reading of the vehicles.
AASP-PA Executive Director Jeff Walter says, “This report proves that annual safety inspection programs, such as Pennsylvania’s, are good for the driving public and make our roads safer. Legislators hopefully will look at the statistics in this report and see the benefit of safety inspection programs. In order to keep driving conditions safe, safety inspections must continue to be the necessary standard for all vehicles.”
This analysis was performed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.
Dana Peck, H. Scott Matthews, Paul Fischbeck, Chris T. Hendrickson, Failure rates and data driven policies for vehicle safety inspections in Pennsylvania, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Volume 78, August 2015, Pages 252-‐265, ISSN 0965-‐8564, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2015.05.013.
The full paper is located at: http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1RBBb_LzWOsXtj
About AASP-PA:
The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Pennsylvania (AASP-PA), an affiliate of AASP National, formed in 1955 as the Independent Garage Owners of PA. The aims and purposes of forming this association included educational, technical and management programs; bonding shops; registering of mechanics; safety inspection law; mechanic’s lien law; group advertising; group insurance of all types; and liaisons with the government and other automotive associations. In almost 60 years, some of the goals have changed a bit, but our purpose remains the same – to education, to assist with legislative issues, to provide money-saving benefits, and to generally promote the automotive industry within the state and nationally.
