The Malta Transport Authority reported receiving 74,346 SMSs in the first year of the Emission Alert campaign, The Malta Independent has learnt.

In a press statement released in March, the authority had said that it had received 52,000 SMSs up to that time, while figures released three days after the launch of the campaign showed that 639 reports were logged by ADT. These figures seem to suggest that the public participation in the campaign has waned over the past six months.

The number of vehicles reported during the past year stood at 37,119, with the authority investigating 2,500 of them. Some public service vehicles have also been investigated, ADT said. So far, 470 vehicles have failed the emission test through the SMS Alert campaign.

For a vehicle to be called up for investigation, the ADT must have received various messages from different mobile numbers. Once these messages are received, a letter is sent to the registered owner of the vehicle, requesting him to bring his vehicle for testing the following week. Vehicles that fail to undertake the tests are issued with a licence restriction, meaning that these vehicles will not be able to have their road licence renewed prior to having passed their emission test. ADT told The Malta Independent that 570 road licence restrictions are still pending.

Vehicles reported must undertake an emissions test. During the test, an opacity metre measures the level of noxious fumes emitted by the vehicle. Upon failure, the owner is advised to address the problem and redo another test

The ADT said that until now, no prank messages have been officially reported. The authority advises the public that prank messages will be investigated and persons caught reporting vehicles unnecessarily shall be prosecuted.