Evening star., 1942-10-27
Tire Inspection
Order Declared
Impractical

Traffic Council Says
Nation Can't Comply
With OPA Ruling
Asserting that an OPA tire in
spection order cannot possibly be
complied with either in the District
of Columbia or elsewhere" the
Commissioners Traffic Advisory
Council last night urged retention
of the present system of one an
nual inspection for passenger cars
and two annually for taxicabs, to-
gether with present examinations
for retreading, recapping and new
tires.
The OPA regultions, effective De-
cember l., require tire inspectionss
every 120 days for A gas ration hold
ers, every go days for supplemental
holders and every 60 days or 5000
miles for trucks, whichever occurs
first.
Whitney Leary, council chairman
and OPA District director, was re-
quested to ask OPA to change it's
regulations, following council adop-
tion OF a survey report which as
serted that the Distoct lacks tire
inspection facilities capable of con-
forming to OPA regulations.
Traffic Act Change Asked.
Another resolution, unanimously
adopted, urged the Commissioners
to ask Congress to amend the Traf-
fic Act, so that next year District
automobile owners would have to
turn in one of their two license
plates to Director of Vehicles and
Traffic William A. Van Duzer. The
legislation to be sought would en-
power Mr.. Van Duzer to decide
whether to surrender the tags as
scrap, or retain them for processing
into District tab strips for attach
ment to single 1914 license plates.
A special committee composed Of
B. A. Stone, chairman; Lester B,
Powell Washington 1. Cleveland,
Stanley Horner and Arthur Sund-
lum, submitted the following report
after studying local tire inspection
facilities:
"A study of the 1s41 records of
the municipal inspection stations
disclosed that 144 per cent of all
vehicles inspected were found to
nave some front-end mechanical
adjustments requiring a reinspec-
ton. We made an adjustment for
these relnspections and determined
| that 900,592 total inspections could
be anticipated annually. Of this
total not more than 10 per cent
could be made in conjunction with
the annual District inspection,
which would leave 810533 inspec-
tlons to be made by commercial
stations.
Mechanics Lacking,
"A preliminary survey of all
alignment equipment indicates there
are in the District (exclusive of the
u. G. government stations) not
more than AZ ramp type or cor
rective machines and "a portable or
'scuf' type. These only indicate
mlsallgnment, but do not indicate
the cause and cannot be used in
making the corrective adjustment
or repairs.
by simple mathematical pro-
cesses it is evident that making
810,533 inspections on the AZ ma
chimes available would necessitate
81 inspections per machine each
working day of the year. It NAV
readily be seen that this is impos-
slole. BY using, in addition to the
az Ramp machines, all of the "a
portable units and applying the
foregoing process we find that each
machine of all types must handle
So inspections daily. This also is
beyond achievement"
The special committee said most
stations possessing such equipment
are reluctant to undertake such
program for two reasons; first, the
scarcity OF sufficiently skilled labor:
and second, the financial loss that
would be incurred by them inasmuch
as a minimum of one-half hour
time for skilled man would be
required to perform an operation for
which they would receive only Is
cents"
OPA Consultation Sought.
Inc committee added it is "con.
hdent that inspection facilities in
the District are as good or better
IMAM In any jurisdiction in the
United States, and it is evident that
the OPA order relating to inspection
cannot possibly be complied with
either in the District of Columbia
or elsewhere"
In asking OPA to discard it's regu-
latlons as being impractical, the
committee report suggested that
before deciding on any additional
inspections which might be neces-
sary, officials of OPA call in local
representatives of the industry for
consultation on a workable plan +"
Richard Murphy, director of the
District Motor Vehicle Parking
Agency, said tire inspection should
be put on mileage rather than
time basis.
Harry Wender offered the motion
designed to reduce the number of
District license plates from two to
one. He submitted reports from
New York and Georgia authorities,
declaring that a single license plate
on cars does not interfere materially
with law enforcement, although
police prefer both front and reac
license plate display in checking
traffic law violators.