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Fitness certificate: the reason why our roads are dangerous

12 septembre 2014, 13:54

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Fitness certificate: the reason why our roads are dangerous

When I came back to Mauritius a few months ago, I had to get a car to get around and I ended up getting a seven year old car. In the UK, where I spent a majority of my life, cars that are three years old and older are subject to an MOT (Ministry of Transport) test to prove that the vehicle is safe and roadworthy. Similarly in Mauritius privately owned vehicles that are seven years old or older have to go through a ‘‘fitness’’ test to prove that they are safe to drive and roadworthy. I therefore arranged for my car to be tested at the NTA’s (National Transport Authority) office at Forest Side on the 3rd of September 2014 and I made sure that I did not miss my appointment. When I got there, the first thing that surprised me was the chaotic way in which I had to queue up to pay the testing fee, which is Rs 400. The fee is minimal compared to the UK, which is approximately Rs 6,000 per test.

 

So I queued up for nearly an hour, paid the fee and went to get my car to be tested. I joined the queue of cars, vans, lorries and taxis that were making their way to the building where the NTA staff check the cars. What really annoyed me when I was waiting for my car to be checked; is the drivers who think they can jump the queue. I do not understand why people cannot just queue up like the majority of us. Queuing up is not an act of conformity or compliance but simply an act of respect and politeness towards others that might have been queuing up for quite some time. After queuing up for approximately thirty minutes and preventing two drivers from joining the front of the queue just because they could not be bothered to wait like the majority of us, I finally get to the front of the queue where one of the assessors approaches me and asks that I give him my vehicle documents (commonly referred to as: horsepower document) and my insurance certificate, which I immediately do.

 

The assessor glances at my car and asks that I park my car and come over to his office so that he can issue the safety and road worthiness report. That was a shock to me. A real shock. My car had not been checked in any way; yet the report states that the assessor had checked a plethora of components and systems listed on his check-list. That made me question the road worthiness of most cars in Mauritius. I am a responsible driver and I get my car serviced on time, well I might go over from time to time but the service gets done in the end and I always make sure that my car is safe and I am sure that most of us do the same. But what happens to the vehicles that are badly maintained by their owners and are given a ‘‘fitness certificate’’ without a full and proper test being carried out by the NTA staff? These vehicles waiting for accidents to happen.

 

REAL DANGER TO ROAD USERS

 

MOT/fitness tests are carried out every year for cars that are three years and older to make sure that cars in the UK are safe and roadworthy and not a danger to other road users. That test is vigorous and if a car fails the test, the problem has to be remedied before the latter is allowed back on European roads. As I left the NTA office with my ‘‘fitness certificate’’ in hand, I felt that I should have paid the Rs 400 that I was charged to get my car tested directly to the government’s slush fund; so that our ministers can go and buy their official BMW and Mercedes cars, leaving some less fortunate people to drive cars, lorries, be driven in taxis and ride motorbikes that are not only a danger to those drivers/riders themselves but a real danger to all road users in Mauritius.

 

Speed does definitely kill; as the road traffic police banner says. But badly maintained cars that are not properly checked by a government run organisation just add to the death toll on our roads in Mauritius. Maybe that is just a way for our government to make money and if that is the case, the NTA should just have a facility where we pay our fee and we just get our ‘‘fitness certificate’’.