VEHICLE INSPECTIONS AND MOTOR VEHICLE FATALITIES
The justification for mandatory vehicle safety inspections is that they prevent fatalities and serious injuries on our roads and highways. But is this true? This question has been exhaustively tested over the last several decades.
Researchers at Brigham Young University who studied the effects of repealing inspection mandates in New Jersey and Washington D.C. found no evidence that motor vehicle accidents had increased as a result. Another study of New Jersey found:
“…removing the requirements resulted in no significant increases in any of traffic fatalities per capita, traffic fatalities due specifically to car failure per capita, or the frequency of accidents due to car failure. Therefore, we conclude that vehicle safety inspections do not represent an efficient use of government funds, and do not appear to have any significantly mitigating effect on the role of car failure in traffic accidents.”
In the years that followed New Jersey’s decision to repeal its inspection mandates, the number of fatal crashes and fatalities on New Jersey’s roads and highways did not sharply increase, contrary to what inspection proponents had predicted. In fact, in the five years following the reform, the average annual number of fatal crashes and fatalities was significantly lower than the average in the five year period that preceded the change in the law.
A comprehensive analysis using data from all 50 states from 1981 to 1993 also failed to uncover any convincing evidence that safety inspections reduce fatalities or injuries. A study in the journal Public Choice concluded that “the evidence strongly rejects a public interest explanation” for the existence of mandatory inspections.