Road safety partnership RoadSafe, is urging transport minister Mike Penning to maintain the MOT test as an annual check-up for vehicles.
Most countries in the EU follow the EU minimum requirement of giving vehicles their first test when they are four years old and subsequent tests every two years.
There is pressure on the UK to do the same, rather than continue the current system, whereby vehicles must have their first test within three years of registration and annual tests thereafter.
The DfT is looking into reducing the required frequency of tests to fall in line with Europe, because modern vehicles are more reliable.
However, RoadSafe is warning that extending the time before a vehicle’s first MOT could lead to more unsafe vehicles on our roads.
This would subsequently increase the number of crashes and road casualties caused by poorly maintained vehicles.
In 2008, the Department for Transport said the MOT failure rate was high – at 35 per cent. Between 2009 and 2010, the failure rate increased to 37 per cent.
