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FAST FACTS:
Scott.Noll@wreg.com
(Memphis, 2/10/2010) It's the day drivers across Memphis dread.
The annual trip to the vehicle inspection station can take hours for a test that takes less than five minutes.
Memphis' vehicle inspection program started back in the 1930's. The complaints go back decades too.
So how is it, years later, so many drivers say the lines still stink?
"I think it's really time consuming," said Huah Vang as she waited in line outside the White Station inspection station. The line wrapped around the block.
Bobby Williams told us he had waited nearly an hour and a half, and still wasn't in the parking lot. Its days like this that get drivers fuming when you mention the phrase "car inspections" to them.
"I don't know why we have to go through this every year," grumbled Larry Teague as he waited in line.
The truth is, drivers who live in the city don't have a choice. We met Melvin Gray and his brother at the end of the inspection line at the Lamar station last week.
"I hate this day, going through inspection," Gray told us. He agreed to let us ride with him, our cameras rolling as he went through the process. It wasn't Gray's first stop of the day. Turns out, he sized-up the city's other two stations looking for the shortest line first.
"We went to White Station, too long," explained Gray. "I went to Washington, it's around the corner."
But there was plenty of waiting at the Lamar station too.
"I haven't seen but one vehicle move in 10 minutes," said Gray as he waited.
But how did things end up like this? You can blame it on the budget says Janet Hooks, division director of Public Services and Neighborhoods which oversees the inspection program.
"There is a funding issue that goes on," said Hooks. Since 2007, the inspection department has lost four full-time inspectors, and part-time positions have been cut in half as part of the city's belt-tightening.
- Budget cuts blamed for long lines at inspection stations
- Department has 12 inspectors to cover 3 stations, 56 hours a week
- Plan to charge drivers for inspections considered
Scott.Noll@wreg.com
(Memphis, 2/10/2010) It's the day drivers across Memphis dread.
The annual trip to the vehicle inspection station can take hours for a test that takes less than five minutes.
Memphis' vehicle inspection program started back in the 1930's. The complaints go back decades too.
So how is it, years later, so many drivers say the lines still stink?
"I think it's really time consuming," said Huah Vang as she waited in line outside the White Station inspection station. The line wrapped around the block.
Bobby Williams told us he had waited nearly an hour and a half, and still wasn't in the parking lot. Its days like this that get drivers fuming when you mention the phrase "car inspections" to them.
"I don't know why we have to go through this every year," grumbled Larry Teague as he waited in line.
The truth is, drivers who live in the city don't have a choice. We met Melvin Gray and his brother at the end of the inspection line at the Lamar station last week.
"I hate this day, going through inspection," Gray told us. He agreed to let us ride with him, our cameras rolling as he went through the process. It wasn't Gray's first stop of the day. Turns out, he sized-up the city's other two stations looking for the shortest line first.
"We went to White Station, too long," explained Gray. "I went to Washington, it's around the corner."
But there was plenty of waiting at the Lamar station too.
"I haven't seen but one vehicle move in 10 minutes," said Gray as he waited.
But how did things end up like this? You can blame it on the budget says Janet Hooks, division director of Public Services and Neighborhoods which oversees the inspection program.
"There is a funding issue that goes on," said Hooks. Since 2007, the inspection department has lost four full-time inspectors, and part-time positions have been cut in half as part of the city's belt-tightening.
