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12 October 2018
Connetable Mike Jackson ,
Chairman,
Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel, Morier House,
St. Helier .
Dear Constable,
Please accept this as a submission on your review into Vehicle Road Worthiness Testing of vehicles in Jersey. There is a presumption by some person or persons that this will be a panacea to facilitate access of Jersey registered vehicles to the UK and EU countries post Brexit. Not all EU Member States have signed the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic.
The Republic of Ireland is not a signatory and my understanding is that there is no impediment to Irish registered vehicles accessing other EU countries.
The UK has not adopted the 1968 Vienna Convention on domestic trailer registration.
Australia, New Zealand and Malta are examples of countries that have not signed or adopted the Convention.
Some countries have signed it though do not implement it. South Africa is an example. There is no road worthiness testing in this country.
Jersey does not need to sign or adopt the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic in haste or as a knee-jerk reaction to the changes to be caused by Brexit. If Jersey is to consider Road Worthiness Testing, then it should devise its own scheme and that it needs only to apply to vehicles over five years old that are being taken off the island.
Jersey has a well respected and skilled motor trade. It should be possible to devise a windscreen disc that states that a specific vehicle has been serviced and inspected and is passed as in good mechanical condition. The vast majority of older vehicles driven on island roads are driven with care and attention. Many are driven just locally to the local shop or Post-Office.
The Scrutiny Panel should also consider a recommendation to an amendment to the current Jersey Road Traffic regulations to allow provision for a Statutory Off Road Notice (SORN). The reason for this is that if the States decide to proceed to adopt the Vienna Convention, there will have to be thousands and thousands of vehicles
scrapped. A SORN facility will be needed. The needless and unnecessary scrapping of thousands and thousands of local vehicles will cause a great deal of chaos and a contingency plan for this will need to be scrutinised.
The DVS is not equipped to deal with thousands and thousands of new vehicle inspections that in many cases are not needed.
Statistics by the States of Jersey Police show that the age or condition of a vehicle bears little relation in most cases to the cause and effect of a road traffic accident. Most accidents are caused by driver error, not paying due care and attention or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
For my own part, I regularly take a 1967, 1983 and 1998 vehicle off island on trips to the UK and France. These vehicles are maintained by me and on occasion, if needed, I take them to a specialist garage.
I would caution elected Members into rushing into any adoption of the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. I thank the Panel for considering this submission.
Sean Power,