Lacking a compulsory requirement for cars to be inspected every year for registration renewal, more Canberra motorists are prepared to take a risk on important vehicle safety.
One in three cars serviced by the NRMA in the ACT were found to have potentially dangerous tyre or brake issues.
The results were not surprising to ACT Motor Trades Association president Michael Burke, who said the NRMA results confirmed the anecdotal reports received from the mechanical workshops he visited around Canberra.
"It's pretty much as we suspected; Canberra cars that have dodgy brakes and tyres are not getting picked up because there's no mechanism to have them inspected unless they are being sold, coming here from interstate or are coming back on the road after being out of registration," Mr Burke said.
"The ACT government assumes that people are doing the right thing about vehicle roadworthiness but this data clearly shows otherwise."
From in the 12 months to June 2019, data collated at the Canberra NRMA service centres found that the most common safety issues on cars were faulty brakes, worn tyres, faulty suspension and leaking cooling systems.
Service centre manager Steve Oldfield said that faulty or worn brakes were a major contributor to rear end collisions.
"Common brake issues include faulty or worn lines, anti-lock brake system malfunction or worn brake pads and discs," he said.
"All these issues can compromise brake performance resulting in longer stopping distances and increased accident risks."
The ACT government's 2018 Safety Report Card provided 39 action items "aimed at saving lives, reducing injuries and strong prioritising a Vision Zero approach to transport policy-making" but not one of the action items made mention of the importance of regular vehicle safety inspections.
Most Australian academic studies into the effect of vehicle roadworthiness on crash incidence are now well outdated but found that vehicle safety defects and vehicle age were contributing factors to road crashes.
A Federal Office of Road Safety report, now 20 years old, was inconclusive, which left the states and territories to establish their own systems.
The federal report said "the ACT accepted the recommendations of a lengthy in-depth 1994 review and abolished its annual [inspection] program".
Police and Access Canberra conduct occasional joint roadside campaigns and release the data which follows.
The most recent public data released was from two years ago, when a two-day campaign defected 53 ACT vehicles for safety issues.
Access Canberra reported "the majority of the defects issued related to the poor condition of tyres".
Mr Burke said that roadside vehicle roadworthiness checks were resource intensive, and that's why they rarely occurred in the ACT.
"While the technology for police to detect unregistered vehicles and speeding vehicles is now common, roadside checks for defects is difficult because it needs trained inspectors, test equipment and police assistance to make it happen," he said.
"That's why it doesn't happen that often and why so many Canberra motorists are prepared to run the gauntlet and drive a vehicle with defects.
"They know the chances of getting caught in a roadside check are very low."
