ALMOST one in five cars tested during a blitz in Melbourne was unroadworthy, police said.
Victoria Police today said they were concerned by the number of motorists driving unroadworthy vehicles after the operation in Caulfield, in Melbourne's southeast, between 9.30am (AEST) and 3pm (AEST) today.
Police stopped about 1500 drivers in a major road block and detected almost 300 unroadworthy cars.
A further 96 drivers were fined for driving unregistered vehicles or driving without a licence, police said.
"It is always a concern when so many unsafe vehicles and unlicensed drivers are detected," Sergeant Dean Cooper said.
Hmmm... yes - vehicles being deemed unroadworthy by those who are not really qualified to do so.
A Police Officer is there to enforce the law - if he was a natural at knowing the mechanicals of a vehicle, he/she/it could make a lot more money working as a spanner-turner than as a cop.
Sure - some cops know what they're looking at but most DON'T. I've heard of police pulling 2 cars less than 3 months old off the road for something that was obviously fictional in nature. Then again, going on *some* of the police in Brisbane, if you can't get someone on something legitimate: we can create something AND give you attitude about it as well!
With Victoria being FAR tougher on vehicles than Queensland is, I'm not really surprised that they managed to "find" one in five vehicles to be unroadworthy. Like most other things in Victoria: "Penalise the majority of the populace over the most pathetic bullshit you can find and protect the crims and minorities."
2 comments:
Hi Jai
My Dad was a copper in Vic for 30 years and a qualified motor mechanic by trade. He spent a year in what was then known as 'The Accident Appreciation Squad' This was in the days when the road toll was over 1000 a year with far fewer and much less well built cars on the road. In his twelve months there he only saw one car that had been involved in a crash that was caused by unroadworthy faults. In this case the owner had tries to make the steering more direct by cutting the steering arm shortor and rewelding it. Well as I'm sure you know- you can't weld that sort of steel, the weld failed at a critical time and two died. The point is a brand new car can have bald tyres but an old one can have torn seats biut good tyres, under the law they are both unroadworthy. All compulsory roadworthys are is a rort to generate income for licensed checking stations.
Hey Bill! Thanks for looking! :)
True, both cars would be unroadworthy and yes, you're right - compulsory checks are a rort.
The problem is that, at the moment, in Queensland, the checks are left up to those who don't really know much about motor vehicles at all other than how to point them down a street. This is why owners of classic cars are sometimes targetted by the younger cops because they are yet to realise that someone with a classic is FAR more likely to have it in better condition than most other cars on the road.
Still - I am glad when they do get the idiots in their shonky Falcodores and bodgy Jap machines. You know the ones - big on accessories but low on class.
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