Regulation is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Some regulation is necessary as it can either set out the rules of the game in society or attempt to influence people to make better choices.

Poor regulation is that which is both costly and/or does little to achieve its desired outcome. A good example of this is New Zealand’s warrant of fitness (WOF) requirements.

Currently, every vehicle six years old or older must pass two WOF inspections every year to be legally driveable. The clear implication is that all vehicles six years old or older are potentially unsafe, or will become unsafe very quickly and need to be monitored frequently. Minister of Transport Gerry Brownlee is considering reforming this onerous testing process but with the caveat that road safety will remain the most important factor in any decision.

Road safety has certainly improved in New Zealand. Since the early 1990s, there has been a downward trend in fatal vehicle accidents despite stable overall crash rates. The causes are many – better quality roads, greater education, safer vehicles, and changing social attitudes to drink driving and speeding. In addition, advances in manufacturing are making vehicles safer all the time. As such, the impact WOF inspections have on improving road safety is minimal and reducing all the time.

A glance across the Tasman suggests that reducing (or even eliminating) the frequency of WOF inspections would have little impact on road safety. Different Australian states have different roadworthiness checks. New South Wales (NSW) has only annual testing on vehicles more than five years old. South Australia, which has approximately the same population as Auckland, has no general safety checks except in certain and specific circumstances. The crash figures in NSW and South Australia have been declining since 1997. In South Australia, with no safety checks, this reduction is despite the average age of vehicles being much older than in Australia as a whole.

In Germany, cars need to be checked only when three years old, and only every two years after that. A 10-year-old car in Germany would have had four inspections, compared to the 14 in New Zealand!

The University of Adelaide’s Centre for Automotive Safety Research recently published a report, Vehicle age-related crashworthiness of the South Australian passenger fleet, that compares the age of a vehicle with its crashworthiness (serious and fatal accidents). It found little evidence of a positive relationship between vehicle checks and road tolls.

In its current form, the WOF inspection regieme is an example of ineffective regulation. The government is correct to consider reforming this area of unhelpful and onerous regulation.