Texas Won’t Require Vehicle Safety Inspections Starting Next Year
Beginning in 2025, the state of Texas will no longer require annual vehicle safety inspections, News Channel 6 KAUZ reports.
House Bill 3297 received approval from Sen. Drew Springer, who said that the decision will remove a burden imposed on Texans and that it’s what residents of the state have been wanting to see happen.
In response, some have voiced concerns over how the change will impact road safety–but Springer isn’t worried.
“We think that is such a small number that gets caught on that one day once a year. Look, people drive with tires they should replace,” Springer stated. “Please, check your tires, check your windshield wipers check your horn and all those other things, but to catch it on the day of that it went bad, they probably had been driving six months with it already, you know, out of compliance.”
Some auto repair professionals in the area don’t have the same confidence, such as Cole Salsman, owner of Veteran Auto Repair in Wichita Falls. He asserted that safety inspections require drivers to have things inspected that wouldn’t be looked at otherwise, preventing potentially hazardous scenarios.
“States that don’t have it, I mean you can see a clear difference when you look at the condition of vehicles on the road,” Salsman added. “I mean there’s vehicles on the road that are far older and in worse shape that might have no business being on the road still.”
The change will not take effect until Jan. 2025, making 2024 the last year Texans will need to have their vehicles inspected.
