Car guide slams safety regulations

Tradesmen are treated as second-class citizens as far as road safety is concerned, says the car buyers’ Dog & Lemon Guide.

Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson was commenting after Chinese-made Great Wall utes were shown to be very unsafe in Australian crashtests.

“These Great Wall utes meet Australian Design Rules, which means it’s legal to sell them throughout Australia and New Zealand, even though these utes are likely to kill their occupants in a serious collision. This is madness. If a vehicle can’t be proved to be safe, it shouldn’t be allowed into the country in the first place.”

“That fact that these utes meet Australian Design Rules simply proves that the Australian Design Rules are criminally deficient. People will die as a result of the Australian government not doing its job.”

Matthew-Wilson, whose road safety research was awarded by the Australian Police Journal, said the fact that commercial vehicles were allowed to meet a lower standard than passenger cars, simply meant that the government was treating tradespeople as second-class citizens.

“Given the number of accidents that involve commercial vehicles, they should probably have to meet a higher, not a lower standard. The Australian Design Rules are a disgrace, and the Minister responsible for them should resign.”