DEADLINE FOR VEHICLE INSPECTION PASSES

Although Thursday was the deadline for motorists to have their vehicles inspected for mechanical defects, it is far from clear whether the police will immediately begin to apprehend vehicles that do not display the sticker showing that they have been inspected.Asked on Thursday night whether sanctions will be imposed immediately on citizens driving cars without the sticker, the director of the National Traffic Institute (INAV), Taibo Issufo, refused to give a straight answer.He said that motorists “should not be afraid”, and even urged transport operators to continue carrying passengers and goods – but asked repeatedly by the interviewer whether the traffic police will stop vehicles and take measures against those that have not been inspected he refused to answer either “yes “ or “no”.Issufo said that motorists should continue to take their vehicles to be inspected. For, although the deadline has passed, the inspection centres remain open. Indeed, it is now time for vehicles that were inspected last year to be re-inspected.“The authorities will carry out their normal supervision on the public highway, without calling into question the circulation of people and goods”, said Issufo. “So all motorists should go to the inspection centres to check the state of their vehicles. In that way they will contribute to reducing the number of accidents which cost the lives of many people”.A press statement issued by INAV also made no mention of any penalties for the owners of uninspected vehicles. Instead, it stated that the inspection centres will now be open from 06.00 to 22.00, instead of closing at 20.00 – which certainly gives the impression that the deadline has been extended.A good number of private motorists were taking no chances and were determined to beat the deadline – so huge queues built up at the Maputo and Matola inspection centres on Thursday. Some motorists arrived on Wednesday night and slept in the queues.The inspections concentrate on such key safety issues as brakes, steering, suspension, lights, tyres and the level of polluting gases that vehicles emit. According to Issufo, so far the great majority of vehicles inspected have passed. He said that about 133,000 vehicles have been inspected, and around 8,000 have failed. Owners of the private minibuses, known as “chapas”, that provide much of the passenger transport in Maputo had threatened to take their vehicles off the roads as from Friday, in response to the inspection deadline. But they seem to have regarded the ambiguous statements by INAV as a guarantee that their vehicles will not be fined or impounded. Certainly on Friday morning the chapas were circulating much as normal.