Periodic Motor Vehicle Inspection in Hawaii - Legislative Reference ...

Periodic Motor Vehicle
Inspection in Hawaii: A
Study of Selected Issues
KEITlIlI.I:'UKUMOTO
Researcher
Report No.7, 1995
Legislative Reference Bureau
State Capitol
HonOlulu, Hawaii

Rduction that em be expected from a PMVI program. Since magnitude js the determining factor
for judg'.ng signiJicance, we are full circle baclc to a Jack of evidence to document the value of tho
PMVI program.
To summarize, it is our judgment Illat the NlITSA report is an objective statement of tho
agency'. position on PMVI. Accident data, which is the ultimate criteria for evaluating highway
safety, does not demonstrate that PMVI programs signlficanUy reduce accidents. It was only after
private interest grouP' applied pressure that the GAO review was ordered. Page 9 of the GAO
report acknowledges that NHrSA responds 10 pressure, The fact thai NHrSA did not gh ... an
official reopen .. to the GAO report sugg..ui that it was e;q>eriencing pressure at the time the GAO
review was being conducted. Page 5 of the GAO report lists three recommendations 10 NHrSA,
but no(bing precluded NHrSA from implementing them before GAO made them. Five year. after
the recommend.tions were made we are nC>! aware of any changes (aside from the clean air
mandates) that suggest that NHTSA, Congress or the general public have an opinion different
from the one expressed to Congress in July, 1971. Specifically, that opinion is,
• In the future, greater reliance must be placed upon State and local highway safety agencies to
identify their most pressing problems and advance appropriate solutions to them.' SUD\equent to
this statement, ten States repooIed their P!.M laws. Eleven years later during the 1988 rule:naking
process to change Loe federal highway safety 'slandard,' to 'guidelines", no State agency
supported PMVI as a priority prog""'" Only one commenter from the private sector
w:offiIf.ended that PMVI be added to the priority progra,'" ••
In the absence of Hawnii aecicknt data that is germane to PMVI. we reviewed PMVI data
that Idleets the acevity of the PMVI stations during CY 1994. A comprehensive presentation is
in the appendix. There was a total of approximately' 724,685 vehicles inspected statewide. When
the 32 defects that are t:'acked in the program are ranked in order of frequency, it is not until you
=h numbe< 24 that the number of def",,'\s reach .. 1 % of the toW number of vehicles inspected.
A. noted earlier, the most common defect is with vehicle registration, which has nothing
whatsoever to do with the mechanical condition of a vehicle. The noxt highest defect is in
headlights, which is very easy for a dishonest inspector to claim, because even if the vehicle
owner w .. to look at the reading on the meter, he or she is very unlikely 10 uncer>tand what it
means. E>

APPENDIX
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