The Natural Philosopher gurgled happily, sounding
much like they were saying:

I think there is a more fundamental point at work here.

It has to do with a different mindset.

To may people a car is a thing with wheels that gets them from A to B
and that's it. Its 'safe' if it passes an MOT and its 'legal' if it has
the relevant paperwork to prove it, and is driven within a strict set of
guidelines that are nothing more than that. A strict set of guidelines.

Those of us who have been more deeply involved with cars, see things
differently. Its a machine, and engineering compromise, nowhere near as
safe as it could be, and only as safe as it needs to be, or can be, at
the price it's sold at. When we get into a car, we are acutely aware we
are in control of a lethal weapon that kills 3000 people a year, and
that its safety as such is eroded next time, and the only effect the
annual MOT has is that the grosser examples of cars that are not fit to
be on the road, are, by and large, kept off it. Good maintenance will
lift its safety margin considerably above the 'legal minimum'

Indeed. The MOT is a bare minimum, not the once-a-year highpoint many
seem to regard it as.