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2.0 COMPONENTS OF I/M & CERTIFICATION SYSTEM
Figure-2 outlines the general components of a complete Inspection and Maintenance system. A complete and comprehensive I&M system is designed necessarily to accomplish the twin objective of emission reduction and safety conformity of on-road vehicles.
However, Some countries designed I&M system only with the unique aim of identifying the gross polluters amongst the in-use vehicles and as such the aspect of safety does not necessarily come under the preview of such systems.
The components are described below:
2.1 Registration
An efficient and transparent registration system is the backbone of an effective I&M system. Registration when inter-locked with periodic I&M system in a way compels the users to go for I&M on their own otherwise the users try to do away with the I&M saying that I&M is cumbersome. Countries like India have a one-time registration procedure where the owner has to get his vehicle registered at the time of purchase of a new vehicle. Whereas countries like Japan have a mandatory renewal registration system inter-locked with compulsory I&M system in which the owner has to get his registration renewed only after necessary I&M formalities are complete. There also exist other types of registration procedures like transfer registration and deletion registration. Vehicles on their sale as 2nd hand vehicles are kept in records under the transfer registration and in case of deletion registration the user has to surrender the registration of his old vehicle, which he proposes to discard. These registrations when followed give a realistic data of the in-use vehicles thereby helping the planners to design an effective I&M based on actual figures of various vehicles running on road. Thus registration plays an important role not only in identifying a vehicle but also encourages I&M by making I&M a pre-requisite for it and it also gives necessary statistics for designing the I&M system.
2.2 Fitness/Roadworthiness Check
Fitness certification or roadworthiness check is another vital component of I&M system which is followed in most of the countries of the world. This check is much inclined towards the conformity of safety and roadworthiness of in-use vehicles but off late many countries have taken the initiative of making the system more comprehensive by including parameters of emissions to this system. This type of system necessarily demands a good infrastructure and test equipments and skilled manpower. In many Asian countries (excepting Japan) this procedure is virtually more in paper then in practice owing to lack or limitations of inspection facilities. In India fitness certification is carried out by the motor vehicle inspectorate known as the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) attached to the transport department in each state and by and large the transport departments resort to visual checks due to limitations in infrastructures and facilities. This type of tests are very significant in the sense that it checks the safety aspects of on-road vehicles and when followed properly hold great promise in bringing down the number of road accidents on account of mechanical errors of vehicles.
2.3 Renewal or Periodic Inspection
Periodic inspection is a practice where in-use vehicles are subjected to mandatory inspection at an approved test station at regular fixed time intervals. This is a very prominent aspect of I&M and in general frequency of this test is also more and as such this should be designed in such a way that the users find it easy and affordable to go for inspection the number of times his vehicle is required to go for it in a year. As is the case with India, vehicle owners in many countries try to avoid these tests due to the complications like lack of approved test stations, very time consuming tests, etc. and more importantly the system may not be very effective if it does not have a very good procedure of identifying the violators who still runs without getting the inspection done. Use of coloured stickers and linking registration with inspection has proved to be a good tool for success of this type of I&M system.
2.4 Regulatory Checks
Regulatory checks or spot inspection is a system which is performed on a random basis by pulling vehicles off the road for on-site inspection generally referred to as Road-side Inspection. This system has to be necessarily very simple and compact and importantly quick and when implemented correctly, it is found to generate tremendous awareness for emission control amongst the vehicle owners. Pollution control authorities in many countries sometimes go for such campaigns like "Pollution Control Month", "Emission Control week", etc. where they spot check on-road vehicles and recommend rectifications for compliance. Road-side inspections are best suited as screening tools to send failing vehicles to a test center. However, when this inspection is coupled with the power of the inspector to fine the non-compliant vehicles then scope for corruption may not be ruled out.
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