Fleet safer as crash rules bite

By CATHY ARONSON

There will be more new cars on the road this year and safer old ones after a rise in new car sales and tougher crash standards for used cars.

Sales for new cars grew by 12 per cent last year, with 83,743 cars sold, the highest sales since 1990.

Toyota continued to top the market, followed by Holden and Ford. The most popular car was the Holden VX Commodore, followed by the Ford Falcon and Toyota Corolla.

Safer used cars were imported last year after frontal impact standards were raised, stopping the importing of Japanese cars built before 1994-1996.

The Land Transport Safety Authority predicted that half the older Japanese cars imported in 2001 would not comply with new crash standards.

When the changes were announced in 2001 used car dealers claimed they would go out of business.

But 2002 was a good year for used vehicle imports, with registrations up 6 per cent, to 136,418.

LTSA spokesman Andy Knackstedt said cars could not be registered if they did not meet the standards.

"Without a doubt there are more new cars and newer used cars on the road, which can only be good for road safety."

The Government predicted the new standards would prevent 85 deaths and 405 serious injuries over 18 years.

Motor Industry Association chief executive Perry Kerr said the Government had to continue to increase the standards to avoid the fleet degrading again.

He said more new cars were sold last year because of a stronger economy and dollar and a shortage of cars less than five years old.

The new car dealers expected the increased sales to last at least another six months.

Of the new cars imported last year the number of passenger cars jumped 10 per cent, to 64,086, and the number of new commercial vehicle sales jumped 18.7 per cent, to 19,657.