Media Release 1 November 2012

New Zealanders take hands-on approach to WoF reform

The New Zealand public has taken a very hands-on approach to potential changes to the frequency of warrant of fitness (WoF) inspections says the Motor Trade Association (MTA).

The high level of public interest in Government’s Vehicle Licensing Reform (VLR) project reflects the importance many New Zealanders place on achieving an appropriate balance between costs, convenience and high levels of road safety. Submissions closed yesterday with 4,200 submissions being received; normal expectations would be for around 250.

Part of MTA’s approach to the options put forward regarding changes to WoF frequency was to allow the public to have their say.

MTA spokesperson Ian Stronach said “We’d carried out our own research earlier in the year that indicated high levels of concern about the possibility of changes to WoF frequency, and we wanted to see how deeply those concerns ran. The response from the public was very strong, not just through the channels we created, but via other outlets as well.”

At the forefront was MTA’s Hands off the WoF website. Created specifically to run throughout the period leading up to the closure of submissions (October 5-31), this website provided an opportunity for the public to record their support or otherwise for the changes and to leave specific comments. During that time it received nearly 48,000 visits; those visitors were information hungry, with the duration of the average visit being more than nine minutes.

Visitors to the site were able to record whether the Government should ‘leave the WoF alone’ or change it, with almost 27,000 people taking the opportunity to do so. 64.8 percent wanted WoF left alone with 35.2 percent calling for some form of change. Interestingly, this response corresponds with an earlier telephone survey of 1,000 members of the public.

2,137 people left a private comment on the site; 62 percent of which supported retaining the status quo. 878 people also commented on a series of blogs that ran during the campaign.

A Facebook page set up at the same time also saw good levels of interest. 1,115 people ‘liked’ the page, with 771 individual posts received.

A number of sound suggestions were made by members of the public, with some of those being included in MTA’s submission. For example MTA is submitting that both classic cars (pre 1960) and household trailers should only require an annual WoF, as neither represents a significant safety risk.

Stronach says “We assumed there would be some interest around WoF, but the scale of comment and participation really surprised us. While our poll was just that, a simple poll, there were some noticeable trends with safety being the prime issue.”

MTA hopes Government will take into account the very high level of interest being shown by the public towards WoF frequency and provide a balanced and effective system that benefits all motorists.

Government will now spend the next few weeks considering submissions, with a preferred option being presented to Cabinet for a final decision expected before the end of the year. MTA has asked the Government to have a further round of consultation on the preferred options for the WoF, Certificate of Fitness (CoF), vehicle licensing and transport service licenses.

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