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The state’s decades-old vehicle safety inspection program may be flawed, but it’s still worth keeping.

Whether to scrap it is being bandied about in the waning days of this General Assembly session. The bill’s backers argue that nothing links those inspections with highway safety. Doing away with them, they say, would save state drivers millions of dollars and much inconvenience.

The push to do away with annual checks apparently has roots in last year’s legislative study that questioned the effectiveness and need for both safety inspections and vehicle emissions testing.

However, there’s substantial sentiment to keep them. The State Highway Patrol, the DMV and AAA Carolinas all say they’re worthwhile. Not surprisingly, tire dealers and auto repair shop owners also are on board.

The timing for such a radical change seems odd, considering the state in 2008 launched a program pairing inspections with vehicle registration.

Starting Monday, drivers can’t get a new or renewed registration if the DMV database shows the car hasn’t been inspected in the last 12 months — no inspection, no registration.

Nor do the bill’s backers say how the state, already strapped for cash, will replace the substantial revenue inspections bring in. Likewise, hundreds of service stations statewide that rely heavily on inspections revenue would take a financial hit in a sour economy.  

At the same time, the legislative study made points worth noting. It suggested, for example, exempting from emissions testing, which is conducted in 48 urban counties, vehicles three years old and newer since the failure rate is miniscule. And it criticized DMV for poorly administering or policing the safety inspections program.

While a connection between inspections and highway safety may be tenuous, requiring that obvious flaws like bald tires, faulty brakes and broken lights be replaced or fixed is justified.

It’s reasonable to conclude that without such oversight, our highways would be even more dangerous. Rather than axing the inspections effort, it should be strengthened.