During the first five months of this year, only one in five motorists has bothered to take their vehicle for a test at an authorized smog check center.
The number of vehicles circulating without current emissions test stickers is so great that traffic cops have virtually given up issuing warnings and tickets.
Magdalena Ruiz, director of the State Environmental Agency (Semadet) that administers the program, admitted this week that the current model is “obsolete” and will be revamped in 2015. So far this year around 300 garages and workshops have been removed from the list of accredited checking stations for alleged dubious practices. The most common charge is that verification stickers are being sold freely on the black market without any test having taken place.
Corruption has been a major problem with the program, Ruiz acknowledged.
Even though enforcement of the program has come to a standstill, traffic officials are still sanctioning motorists who are spotted driving vehicles that emit excessive amounts of smoke.