The familiar practice of mandatory vehicle inspections will become a part of Texas’ history due to a new bill signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Come 2025, the state will have done away with annual vehicle safety inspections for noncommercial vehicles, affecting a solid share of the approximately 22 million vehicles currently registered with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, according to Community Impact.
HB 3297, filed by Rep. Cody Harris (R-Palestine), repealed the Transportation Code provisions mandating safety inspections, which had not been required by the federal government since 1976.
“Texans are responsible, fiercely independent, and I trust them to keep their cars and trucks safe while on the road,” Harris said in support of the measure, ABC 13 reported.
The bill was also backed by Sens. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) and Bob Hall (R-Edgewood).
Still, the new policy has a few caveats, as previously covered by The Dallas Express. For instance, drivers will still be responsible for an annual inspection fee of $7.50 for previously registered vehicles or $16.75 for newly registered ones.
Moreover, the new policy does not do away with mandatory annual emissions tests in Texas counties such as Brazoria, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, El Paso, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Johnson, Kaufman, Montgomery, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, Travis, and Williamson.
For some, like former Texas lawmaker Don Huffines, who took to social media to urge that the safety inspection requirement be abolished, calling it a “scam,” the new policy will lessen the burden on Texans inconvenienced by the annual inspections.
However, some have raised concerns over what the repeal might mean for road safety in Texas.
For instance, according to The Texas Tribune, Charissa Barnes, owner of the Official Inspection Station in San Antonio, told lawmakers when HB 3297 was still being considered, “The majority of our business is centered around making sure people’s vehicles are safe. We need to make sure that their cars, the people joining us in Texas, are safe.”
Similarly, Larry Harris, a seasoned vehicle inspector and owner of Larry’s Auto Inspection in Houston, said, “I just think it defies logic,” mentioning how people might attempt to operate vehicles without correctly operating components such as steering wheels, brakes, or tires, per Community Impact.
Roadway safety has been a hot topic in Texas lately, with at least one roadway death estimated to occur each day.
As recently reported by The Dallas Express, an annual assessment conducted by the North Central Texas Council of Governments found that automobile crash rates and fatalities spiked in some North Texas counties, such as Dallas and Collin counties, last year.
In fact, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has launched an awareness-building campaign known as #EndTheStreakTX to promote safer driving practices.
Lawmakers also passed several measures aimed at improving roadway safety, such as HB 1885, which enabled local TxDOT officials to temporarily adjust speed limits on stretches of road exhibiting hazardous conditions caused by inclement weather or construction.