DMT sets up vehicle emission testing raids

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana

Environmental pollution has become a serious concern world over an d now Sri Lanka has entered the fray because of the vast number of vehicles entering and exiting the city.

Commissioner General Department of Motor Traffic S H Harishchandra

Project Director VET A W Disanayake

Sri Lanka has about 5.1million registered vehicles running on the roads at present. Out of this at least one million vehicles enter and exit Colombo daily which is a staggering amount compared to the compact routes and the proportion of the city. All these automobiles emit gases of waste of fuel burn that involuntarily enter the atmosphere which could be hazardous to the environment. This is why the Government introduced a vehicle emission testing system in 2008 starting from the Western Province that by now developed into a fully-fledged system throughout the country.

Motorists had to subject their vehicles to an annual test and obtain a certificate. However, the necessity to monitor the smooth flow of this system was vital as instances of certain motorists producing false certificates upon demand by the vehicle emission testing inspectors lately has been observed.

The Department of Motor Traffic(DMT) and the Ministry of Environment and Renewable Energy, the Central Environment Authority and the Department of Measurement Units, Standard and Services have launched a joint operation to conduct a countrywide inspection program on errant motorists who possess false certificates obtained from shady vehicle emission testing centres by soliciting financial bribes. Joint teams of representatives of these institutes will apprehend drivers who do not maintain vehicle standards.

Setting up vehicle emission testing laws was initiated by the Ministry of Environment following a court order in 2000. This however had to be re-gazetted in 2003 as the adapted international standards of the emission testing system was too advanced for the non brand new and vehicles in poor condition found on Sri Lankan roads. This came into effect in 2008 by initialing the project in the Western Province on November 18. It then took effect in Central, Southern and North Central Provinces in June 2009. The program then operated in the Uva, Sabaragamuwa and North Western Provinces. The Eastern Province in July 2011 and in the Northern Province in January 2013. Although the emission testing systems were in place since 2008 the DMT could not implement the law as the system was not installed in the North and the East until the war on terrorism ended in 2009. Special instructions were given to officials not to check vehicles registered in those provinces. Project Director VET (Vehicle Emission Testing) and former Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Motor Traffic A W Disanayake said that the VET project was launched about one and a half years back and was in operation. According to Dissanayake there are about 340 registered vehicle emission testing centres operating countrywide. These centres registered with the Department of Motor Traffic include mobile emission testing facilities as well, where the testing centres are sent to rural locations for the convenience of the public who may have to travel long to find a centre. The motorists in the rural areas could gather to a mobile centre on a specific date announced previously.

Emission Testing Centre

The emission testing centres are approved by the DMT once they have the correct gear and the specially trained staff to conduct the testing. All these centres are connected to a main database in the DMT head office where they get an alert from each and every testing being done in any of the centre in any given area. This is a special feature where the DMT could check the progress of an emission test as well the accuracy of such a test.

The online data received from these centres could tell the details of the centre, owner of the vehicle, the province in which the vehicle registered under, the model of the vehicle as well as engine numbers and chassis numbers.

VET Poster

It also has the ability to check the RPM and the temperature of a vehicle that is being tested. Emission tests are being carried out under the international standard of SAEG – 1667 (Society of Automobile Engineers).

The measurement used to measure the emission level is K-factor, which should be below eight for a vehicle to pass the emission test. The emission testing is done by sending a special light ray in to the silencer of the vehicle and increase the RPM to the maximum level for three seconds in which the amount of light rays are disturbed by the exhausting emission is gauged. This is called the Absorption Coefficient or the K-factor. If the K-factor is over eight the certain parts of the vehicles should be repaired

to minimise the emission. Normally the emission levels of a vehicle increases if the parts like Air Filter, Engine Oil Filter, Injector Pumps are worn out. By replacing these parts the exhausting emission levels can be reduced.

There are standard rates introduced by the DMT to charge from the motorists to test their vehicles.

Motorcycles – Rs.415,
Motor Tricycles Rs.505,
Motorcars – Rs.1110,
Dual Purpose Vehicles – Rs.1200,
Motor Lorries – Rs.1560,
Motor Coaches –Rs.1020,
Buses – Rs.1010 and
Prime Movers – Rs.1660.

All these prices are applied to all the approved vehicle emission centres.

It is compulsory to get an annual emission test by all vehicle owners according to the Sentence 29 of the Motor Traffic Act. The act enables the officials to check the vehicles at any given time under the sentences of 194, 198 of the Motor Traffic Act. Since the testing facilities are fully functioning countrywide and access is available to all vehicle users the DMT is to conduct more and more snap raids on the roads to test the drivers who do not adhere to these laws. Commissioner General Department of Motor

Traffic S H Harishchandra said the detecting teams are operating daily to apprehend errant drivers. These teams select random areas a day and conduct checking with state of the art equipment. The vehicles that have excessive emission levels will be marked with their registration numbers and be informed afterwards by post. They are given a concessionary period to fix their engines and reduce the emission levels before imposing a fine.

Every motorist has to have a vehicle emission testing certificate obtained by now and the annual emission testing record.

If a driver is found without the annual emission testing record he will be subjected to a fine of Rs.3, 000 whereas if a vehicle is caught without an emission testing certificate the owner would be imposed a fine of Rs.20, 000 or a prison sentence.

According to the DMT Commissioner General these strict laws are not pertaining only for the motorists but for the emission testing centres as well. Since 2008 up to now over 300 centres had been dismissed by the DMT for not maintaining the standards and also for issuing false certificates and test reports for motorists for soliciting bribes.

Vehicle emission testing is an important feature not only as a gauge of monitoring vehicles with fine condition enter into the roads but concerning the atmosphere we live in. As vehicle emission releases dangerous gases like Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrocarbon (HC), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) and Nitrogen Oxcide (NO2) which are hazardous for the living beings, controlling them releasing to the atmosphere is not to mention.