Evening star., 1942-12-03
Tire Inspection
Progresses With
Few Delays
Presenting Of Wrong
Serial Numbers
Is Only Snog

Inc DlSLrlcCS Tire inspection pro-
gram appeared to be well under con-
troll today, with most inspection sta
tions reporting that business was
rolling in slowly enough to be ham
died without causing motorists any
great delay.
Only in the downtown area, at
filling stations and garages capable
of storing cars throughout the day,
was any unusual rush reported At
such places car owners have been
leaving their cars in the morning
to be inspected before they are
picked up at night.
The only snag in Washington S
inspection program so far was evi-
IDENTIFY one caused by the motorists
themselves. Most stations reported
that a large number of drivers pre-
Sented tire records bearing serial
numbers that did not check with
the numbers on the tires. In most
instances, the discrepancy was
slight enough to indicate that it
had been caused by carelessness on
the part of the car owner.
Few Turned Back.
Whenever such a discrepancy oc-
CURED, tire inspectors were obliged
to strike out the number listed on
the record and insert the correct
record. At the same time, they had
to fill out a form notifying the ra-
tioning board that the change had
been made Some places ran out of
the forms which were supplied by
the OPA.
Where the error appeared to be
too great to be aScribed to mere
carelesSness, the inspectors referred
the drivers back to the ration boards
before inspecting the tires A neg
ligible number of such cases was
reported.
Drivers with passenger cars bear
ing District license tags up to 10000
still had today and tomorrow to get
their tires inspected under the sys-
TEN whereby each motorist has been
assigned specific period between
now and January 81 to report to an
inspection station. Commercial We
hlcleS bearing numbers from Al to
A5O and from B1 to Bl4O0 are also
supposed to be inspected during the
four-day period ending tomorrow.
District Office of Price Admins
tration officials, in cooperation with
Traffic Director William A. Van
Duzer, assigned only 11,450 vehicles
to the first four-day period, or an
average of about 40 for each of the
287 inspection stations. This was
done chiefly to permit inspectors to
famlliarize themselves with the
program. During the second period,
which runs from Saturday through
next Wednesday, about $500 vehi-
cles are scheduled to be inspected
an average of ST per station.
Inspectors Available.
Virtually all inspection stations
had at least two men available for
the inspection. Some of the larger
places had as many as seven inspec-
tors, but how long this favorable
would last. no one was
prepared to say. Nearly all of the
station managers admitted that they
were having manpower headaches
and were experiencing considerable
difficulty maintaining staffS of ca
pable men because of the draft and
the temptations of defense Jobs.
One downtown station. where
seven inspectors are kept busy, re-
ported reasonably stable personnel
in view of the fact that the employees
were all family men," we'll paid
and not likely to be lured away By
other offers. This station had $50
cars parked on its premises and in
the street, all awaiting tire inspec-
tons. During the first two days, this
station reported, it handled 300 in
spections.
Relatively few tires have had to
be removed from the rims, the in
spectors said When this is neces-
sary, the car owner must paw, in
addition to the 25-cent visual in
spection fee, an additional so cents
Tor each tire demounted. The
demounting charges for light trucks
is rs cents and for heavy trucks. 81