The drivers of almost half the vehicles stopped at emissions inspection program checkpoints in Guadalajara have been issued with tickets for non-compliance.
The retenes (checkpoints) are installed at random points of the metropolitan area on a daily basis. In line with the Verificación Responsable program’s current schedule, drivers with Jalisco license plates ending in ether 1, 2 and 3 are required to show proof that their vehicle has undergone an emissions check at one of the approved inspection centers.
Figures released by the state Environment Department (Semadet), the agency that administers the program, show that agents from the Jalisco Transportation Department (Semov) stopped 4,672 vehicles at these checkpoints in the three months since the program kicked off at the start of February. The vehicles of 1,895 did not display an official calcomania (windscreen sticker) given to vehicles that have passed the test, nor could their drivers provide paper documentation proving they had been taken for an inspection.
Consequently, all were issued with tickets bearing a fine of 2,084 pesos.
At the end of March, a Semadet spokesperson said that around 77 percent of vehicles passed the inspection.
During the 20-minute inspections, vehicles emissions are checked for harmful pollutants, as well as a few other potentially dangerous non-mechanical details, such as the conditions of the tires.
The schedule requires that vehicles with license plates ending in 4 and 5 should be taken for inspections this month. The cost of the checks is 500 pesos.
To see the full schedule, book appointments and pay online, go to verificacionresponsable.jalisco.gob.mx.
Foreign-plated vehicles being driven in Jalisco do not need to be inspected.