KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri lawmaker has introduced a bill that would eliminate inspections for commercial vehicles.
Representative J. Eggleston stated after researching this issue, he found that the checks don't necessarily keep the roads more safe.
"The facts are that 35 other states used to have the program and got rid of it without any provable decrease in safety. Insurance rates did not change because a state got rid of an inspection program," Eggleston said in a statement to 41 Action News. "Our highway patrol study shows states without inspection programs have no higher percentage of fatal accidents due to mechanical failure than states with inspection programs."
According to data from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, in states that require inspections, defective cars were responsible for less than two percent (1.6 percent) of fatal crashes.
States that didn't require inspections made up less than that at 1.4 percent.
Not everyone approves of this potential elimination. Some auto shops told 41 Actions News it could create a safety issue for Missouri.
"It's one of those things, you're taking a gamble taking it off the list because there's enough breakdowns, there's enough wrecks as it is, so there's plenty of people who's already not following the laws," R&L Auto Owner Logan Naudet said.
Laudet said at three to four inspections a day, $12 each, it's not about revenue, but more so a safety concern.
"I think you're going to run into more breakdowns, I think you're going to run into more accidents," Laudet said. "It's not something we make a killing on and that's the truth. If anything it's more of an inconvenience for us because like I said, we don't make any money off that $12."
Laudet said there are already auto shops that don't play by the book.
"There's so many shops out there where they come to our shop and they're mad and they spend $12 on inspection and their car didn't pass and they take it to another shop that might take money under the table and pass their car," he said. "So that's probably one of the biggest issues we have is that it should be done the exact same way at every shop."
Eggleston said there are still some more preliminary votes that need to be successful in the Missouri House before it can move forward to the Missouri Senate.
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