Filenews 31 July 2024
A total of 23,313 motorcycles may be circulating illegally provided that they have been called for inspection (MOT) and did not report to private authorized centers in order to pass the prescribed inspection. Of course, some owners may not have taken them for inspection and not circulated them, but no one knows this. Moreover, it is not excluded that at some stage they may be brought for inspection, even if the deadline given to the owners has expired.
According to the relevant legislation, the registration of these 23,313 motorcycles has been automatically suspended, with all that this entails for those who continue to use them on the roads.
It is noted that as the officer of the Department of Road Transport, Mr. Joseph Miltiadou, told Philenews, of the 23,313 motorcycles that have been called for inspection and did not appear, 7,152 motorcycles are declared immobilized. Before they are released, their owners must drive them for technical inspection.
Based on the fact that the total number of motorcycles is 60,817, it means that about one in three did not pass a technical inspection. It is noted, however, that not all motorcycles have been called for technical inspection, something that is being done gradually. The inspection of the "first batch" was completed in mid-July and the next ones were called.
Mr. Miltiadou told Philenews that any motorcycle that completes four years from its first registration, automatically its owner will receive a message to present it for inspection.
Motorcycles that do not present themselves for roadworthiness tests are considered unsuitable and their registration is suspended.
Although the number of motorcycles that were not taken by their owners for inspection is large, it is assumed that gradually the situation will improve and owners will get used to the idea of inspection, as happened with cars.
A problem faced by owners of older motorcycles, in particular, is that they did not have indicators and lanterns to indicate where to move and reportedly considered exempting them from the obligation to install this system. The main problem in this case is that these old motorcycles did not have and do not have a battery to operate the direction indicators.
