The initiative taken by the government through the Public Transport Authority (ADT) last week seems to have had the desired effect already.

Last Tuesday, the ADT announced that it was calling upon people to send an SMS including the registration number of vehicles which, according to the sender, are emitting too many fumes. People were asked to forward their complaint to number 5061-1899.

It is evident that the system, aptly named “Emission Alert”, has already been successful in terms of the response from the public. A few hundreds SMSs have already been sent to the ADT, and although their complaints now need to be verified, one can safely say that the public has already shown it wants to comply with the idea.

The authority was banking on people’s cooperation, it was said during the press conference launching the campaign. Up to now, the ADT must be happy with the outcome.

It is now up to the authority to call the owners of the vehicles concerned within three days, so that tests can be carried out on the cars at the Licensing and Testing Department with specialised equipment bought by ADT.

Owners of vehicles failing the test will be fined Lm20 and asked to carry out the necessary repairs before a second test, a week later. If the vehicle is still emitting too many fumes, then it is likely that there will be further fines and possibly other sanctions.

The system in itself is to be praised because it is, after all, an environment-friendly campaign. All of us have, unfortunately, driven behind vehicles that are belching out too many fumes – especially when being driven uphill – and therefore such a scheme can be described as one that was necessary. If cars emitting fumes are repaired or, if this does not work, eventually removed from our roads, then we will certainly start living in a healthier environment.

Fumes from cars lead to an increased risk of cancer, a reduction in lung function in children, contribute to the premature death of people with heart and lung problems and bring about or aggravate respiratory illnesses.

Vehicles that emit fumes should, therefore, undergo the necessary repairs. Before launching this scheme, the ADT already had its own mechanism for checking cars, but only an average of two out of 80 cars did not pass the test, whereas the authority was receiving a number of reports that exceeded this average. It was therefore felt that the public’s help would enable the authority to identify more vehicles that needed to be checked.

During the press conference, ADT chief executive officer Gianfranco Selvagi said that the system that has been introduced is foolproof, but he declined to go into details as to how it will be functioning. He did not want to divulge information on how the authority will be dealing with the SMSs that, it seems, are flooding in.

As in anything else, such a system could be used for pranks between friends or, worse, more maliciously. It is therefore extremely important that the authority does not fall into such a trap, as otherwise it will be wasting its resources and simultaneously wasting people’s time.

While calling on the public to avoid causing unnecessary trouble, the ADT should have the power to take action against those who abuse the system – that is those who send SMSs for the fun of it or who want to get people into trouble, especially if this happens repeatedly.

Everyone wants such a system to work because, after all, it is for the common good of society. It is a chance for all of us to show maturity by using the SMS Emission Alert responsibly.