First-time pass rates up The week that was
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By David Wilcox
TRUCKS AND TRAILERS are now achieving the highest ever first-time pass rate at their annual roadworthiness test.
Data released this month by Vosa, covering all 162,000 tests carried out in April, May and June, reveal that 76.8% of all trucks tested in that period passed their test at the first attempt. The figure for trailers was 84.4%. Vosa is yet to publish its annual Effectiveness Report for the year ended 31 March 2012, but these latest pass rates exceed the previous best-ever annual test performance. That was in 2010-11, when the truck test pass rate was 74.5% and the figure for trailers was 82.1%.
Annual test performance has been improving almost every year since 2002-03, when it stood at just 57.5% for trucks and 71.5% for trailers. The improvement is thought to be attributable to several fac tors, including the growth of maintenance contracts, Vosa’s enforcement efforts and the relaxation of headlamp aim rules – poor headlamp aim is the biggest single test failure reason.
Improvements over the past couple of years, including these latest figures, is also believed to be due, in part, to the introduction of authorised testing facilities (ATF).
When first promoting the principle of switching the bulk of truck and bus testing from Vosa’s test stations to private sector premises, Vosa claimed that this would lead to further improvement in the annual test pass rate. This was on the basis that it is better for maintenance and testing to be carried out on the same premises where the equipment is the same and the journey to the test station is eliminated, removing the chance of defects that could develop en route.
There are now approximately 200 ATFs and, together with the privately-owned designated premises, carry out about half of all truck and bus annual tests.