`UNNECESSARY': KELLY WANTS TO END VEHICLE INSPECTIONS

State Auditor Margaret Kelly wants to eliminate Missouri's annual vehicle inspections.

She says they are an unnecessary regulation.

"If people have serious problems with their cars, they'll get them fixed," said the Republican gubernatorial candidate. "They don't need the state telling them how to spend their money."

Kelly said the inspections are a time-consuming burden. Vehicle owners, she said, often end up paying for unnecessary repairs.

But others in state government, including Gov. Mel Carnahan, say the auto inspection system that has been in place since 1969 has kept defective autos off the roads and saved lives.

"I would think that making sure automobiles are safe to drive on the roads of Missouri is probably a good thing," said Carnahan campaign spokesman Tony Wyche.

Cape Girardeau auto repair operators say the annual inspections are an important safety check.

Twenty-seven states don't require annual vehicle inspections, including Illinois.

But in some of those states, including Kansas and Minnesota, the state patrol makes spot inspections.

The superintendent of the Missouri Highway Patrol said the safety checks save lives.

Nationwide, one in every 43 vehicles involved in fatal accidents is defective. But in Missouri, the ratio is 1 in 117 vehicles, three times better than the national average.

"This very impressive difference readily translates into lives saved, injuries avoided and property damage averted," said Superintendent Fred Mills in a letter last week to state Sen. Harold Caskey, D-Butler.

"In addition, millions of dollars in lost job time, medical expenses, legal costs and publicly funded services were saved," he wrote.

Motorists must obtain an annual safety inspection to renew their vehicle license.

The state also requires inspections in connection with the sale of used cars, which provides protection for the consumer, Mills said.

The state sells safety and emissions inspection stickers to the inspection stations. The cost is 75 cents for a safety sticker and $1.50 for an emissions sticker.

The federally required emissions inspections currently are limited to St. Louis city, and St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson counties.

Inspection stations charge $7 for a safety inspection and a maximum of $17.50 for an emissions check.

Inspection stations must be licensed by the state. The license costs $10.

There are nearly 4,000 public inspection stations in Missouri. In addition, government agencies and some businesses do their own inspections, bringing the total number of inspection stations to about 4,900.

Last fiscal year, the state received $4.13 million from the sale of inspection stickers and licenses.

The money pays for a staff of three troopers, 71 motor vehicle inspectors, a technical staff person and six clerical workers. It also covers all the other costs of the inspection program.

The inspection program doesn't just pay for itself, it makes money.

Mills said nearly $1 million a year is put into the state road fund.

The inspection program includes an annual check of all 12,000 school buses in the state.

Mills said the safety program is particularly needed today.

With the rise in the number of self-service stations, fewer cars are getting preventative maintenance checks, Mills said.

Drivers also are keeping their cars longer because of high replacement and interest costs.

Faster speed limits also add to the wear and tear on vehicles, Mills said.

Local auto repair shops make $6.25 on each safety inspection.

"They are not really worth the trouble for what we make on them," said Gary Sperling, owner of Sperling's Garage & Wrecker Service.

An inspection can take 20 minutes, including the paperwork.

But Sperling said the inspections are good from a safety standpoint. Many motorists don't know if their vehicle has a problem, Sperling said.

Inspections also generate repair business. "You may sell the guy a new set of brakes or repair a headlight, or stuff like that," Sperling said.

Both Rick Masters of the Plaza Tire store on William Street and Larry Yarbro of the Yarbro Service Station agreed inspections are valuable from a safety standpoint.

Illinois doesn't require inspections and it shows, Masters said. "In Illinois, you can see a lot of trash running up and down the road."

Yarbro said many motorists would be driving defective vehicles were it not for safety inspections. "You wouldn't believe some of the shape cars come in."

Yarbro said, "I wouldn't want a lot of unsafe vehicles out there that might hurt somebody."