Vehicle owners may have to obtain a roadworthiness certificate every 5,000 kilometres or roughly every three months under a scheme proposed by the Department of Motor Traffic — but the proposal is still with the department’s legal division and has not been finalised.
Commissioner General of the Department of Motor Traffic, retired Air Marshal Thushara Fernando, set out the plan to the Daily Mirror, which reported it at 8.32 p.m.
What is proposed, and what is not yet decided
The tests would be additional to the existing vehicle emissions test, not a replacement for it. That is the substantive change: a vehicle that currently passes an emissions check once a year would face a separate mechanical check on a far shorter cycle.
Fernando said the proposal was still under discussion and had been referred to the legal division, with implementation expected early next year. It originated with the Minister’s advisers, and the relevant authorities are now working through the legal and administrative arrangements.
One step has already been taken. “We have already called for applications from garages to conduct these tests and will designate those that meet the specified criteria,” Fernando said.
So the department is building the testing network before the rule that would require the tests exists.
The trigger
The Daily Mirror ties the renewed attention to road safety to a major accident in Akurana. This desk reported that crash: a cement mixer killed four people on 19 October.
The filing stops short of saying the proposal was caused by the crash, and so does this account — the department has been working on vehicle-condition rules for some time. In August, the Cabinet approved regulations covering vehicle inspection and seatbelts.
It is also the second measure from the same department this week. On Thursday the DMT announced that registration is now mandatory for 48cc motorcycles.
Not reported
The filing does not say who would pay for the tests or what they would cost, how the 5,000km threshold would be verified on vehicles whose odometers are not independently audited, or which vehicle classes would be covered — whether buses, lorries, three-wheelers and private cars would all fall under the same cycle.
It does not name the minister whose advisers proposed the scheme, give the criteria garages must meet, say how many have applied, or state what penalty would follow driving without a valid certificate.
No other verified newsroom had filed on the roadworthiness proposal when this account was written; Hiru’s homepage carried the department’s 48cc announcement but not this one. Ada Derana has returned a CloudFront block to this desk for more than a month and could not be checked.