Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm
Qld. Transport used to have, and may still have, the unlovely habit of picking a piece of major road wide enough to pull numbers of vehicles over to roadside for inspection. The location was also always out of sight of approaching traffic and without escape routes. The normal procedure was to pull over any 10yo or older vehicles, or newer vehicles obviously damaged or neglected. Some vehicles with minor defects were allowed to proceed with a defect notice that required repair(s) to be made and a Safety Certificate (whole of vehicle, not just the required repairs) to be obtained from a licenced inspection station within a specified time. Vehicles with more serious defects were not permitted to be driven away, had to be moved by towing, a fine and loss of points were incurred, and the defect notice required repairs to be made and the vehicle presented to a Departmental inspection station within a specified time. This latter option, known colloquially as " going over the pits", usually resulted in the vehicle being deregistered as the Dept's inspectors wre not noted for their sympathy.