LIMESTONE Coast highway patrol is calling on drivers in the region to check their vehicles to avoid receiving a defect notice in the lead-up to tougher driving conditions during the wetter months.
With the weather cooling and daylight hours becoming shorter, Limestone Coast highway patrol Senior Constable Andrew Smelt said it was the right time for people to check their vehicles.
“It is a good time of the year to look at your vehicle in regards to the condition and any defects in preparation for winter,” Mr Smelt said.
“We are looking at exhausts, lights and particularly tyres and quite a lot of tyres have in-built wear-bar indicators.”
Another vehicle standard that police will have a particular focus on is window tint, which is specified in the Australian Road Traffic Standard Rules 2018.
“We will be looking at window tint, which should be no less than 35pc luminous transmittance on the driver and front passenger windows and no less than 20pc for the rear passenger windows,” Mr Smelt said.
“We have recently purchased a tint meter to measure the tint and I guess the reason for the regulations is because it creates a safety issue if other drivers can’t see what you are doing.”
If members of the public are not confident about checking their own vehicles for issues, Mr Smelt encouraged them to speak to a professional.
“If you get a service on your car and you are not confident on checking it for problems yourself, I would definitely advise you to tell them to give your car a winter check,” he said
While other state’s have annual roadworthy checks, Mr Smelt said South Australia does not have that luxury, so each person is responsible for their own vehicle.
“The responsibility is with the driver and obviously if we see anything that is of defect nature we will go ahead and issue the notice,” he said.
“Being defected can cost you a lot of money, so you are better off spending that money on making sure your vehicle is up to standard now.”
