Tuesday, March 23, 2010
City Council Car Inspection Reform
Posted by Mary Cashiola on Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 12:30 PM
The City Council's Public Services and Neighborhoods committee voted today to move forward on two initiatives to help make the city's car inspection process more convenient for citizens.
One removes funding for vehicle inspections from the city's 2011 operating budget and looks to privatization. The other removes mandatory inspections for vehicles four years or younger.
"We're in the ironic position of having people wait with their cars idling, which is harmful to the environment, in order to protect the environment," said council member Shea Flinn. "Newer cars have lower emissions. They should be exempt. The safety standards — it would be nice, but we're not required to do it. The county can do it through moving violations. So could we."
During the inspections, the city also looks at 12 safety checks — including windshield wipers, brake lights, and side mirrors — but none of those are required by law. There has been talk of omitting them entirely, but they only add about a minute to the overall inspection time, and city officials don't think removing them from the process will make much difference.
"We know we have to do emissions," said councilman Bill Morrison, who proposed the resolution along with Jim Strickland. "Ultimately, this is to reduce the wait for our citizens."
The inspection stations would ultimately have to remain open for cars built before 1996. But for cars newer than that, an onboard diagnostic check could be done by private entities.
"This sends a message to the administration that we want this to become a priority," Morrison said of the measure.
Both initiatives will go before full council in two weeks.
Comments (8)
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"There has been talk of omitting them entirely, but they only add about a minute to the overall inspection time, and city officials don't think removing them from the process will make much difference. ". Let's look at that statement. 3 minute inspection = 20 per hour. 2 minute inspection = 30 per hour. So we just increased our output by 50% without spending a dime. We just lowered the queue time by about 30 mins. And we spent 0. Not a dime.
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What I have never understood is why are there so many cars on Memphis' streets that belch black smoke, have no working turn signals or brake lights, doors held on by a rope, etc, etc and yet they have current tags? I've even been in line at the inspection station behind a car that was billowing black smoke (even though there is a sign that clearly states cars doing this will not be inspected) and lo and behold it was not only inspected, but PASSED!
My point is that I just don't see how these inspections are helping anything. They seem fruitless and a waste of taxpayer money.
Another thought. If that minute of safety inspection adds 20 minutes to the wait time. That is around 140,000 hours of lost productivity for Memphis. Possibly 2M in lost wages. City Government doesn't think about these things, and they should.
I STILL BELIEVE THAT APPROVED DEALERSHIPS COULD MAKE THESE INSPECTIONS INCLUDING SAFETY INSPECTIONS WITH THE PUBLIC SAVING THEIR HEALTH BY NOT HAVING TO BREATHE THE FUMES FROM IDELING MOTORS WHILE WATING IN LINE AND IF NECESSARY HAVE REQUIRED REPAIRS MADE WHILE AT THE DEALERSHIP AND PASSED FOR TAGS.
Always remember the more jobs removed from the private sector the fewer tax dollars that actually are available from the private sector. That means government collects private sector dollars to pay for government employed workers that could be handled by already operational businesses and their taxpaying employees. This would help keep the businesses open to pay their taxes and improve the city.
I'm waiting for the inevitable "Other side of the story" interview on TV with people decrying "new to four year old" exemption as unfair because rich people can afford new cars.
Wait for it!
Inspections... oh not looking forward to them yearly..Loved it when I didn't live in the city, didn't have to go through the "wasted time". Safety items inspection..let see, if it adds 1 minute per car at 60 cars per day, per inspector at 4 lanes, 4 hours saved.. wow maybe it will only take, 45 minutes instead of 1 1/2 hours to get through the line.. Better yet, close the stations, and tell the police, write the tickets. I have seen cars smoking, held together by wire, rope, bungy cords, duct tape, etc, etc.. and yea, new tags. Remember the story on the news about the tire rebate program, what about the truck that was 2nd in line with a load of tires, look at the front of it, 1 headlight, held on by duct tape, and the truck leaning so far over on one side, something had to be broken below. Oh yea, he drove it down to the rebate center at night, and I am sure it smoked all the way. Has anyone asked, why the county residents don't go through inspection ? Oh wait, for some reason that has to deal with the goverment, if you live in the county, no inspection, but if your in the city limits,you must go through inspection. maybe I'll sale my house and move 2 blocks away, so I don't have to get my car inspected anymore.
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