Tread Depth Check On The Move With ProContour

German company ProContour GmbH describes itself as “a future-oriented business” and it has just come up with a device that can measure tread depths of tyres in moving traffic.

Working on the principle of laser triangulation, the ProContour H3-D will make a significant contribution to road safety, believes the company. Statistics show that, in Germany, there are 55.3 million motor vehicles and 2.79 million trucks registered and, in 2005, 2.25 million accidents were recorded by the police, with 15 fatalities a day on German roads. In stark economic terms, the damage amounted to 32 billion euros.

According to ProContour, studies last year attributed no fewer than 1,214 accidents resulting in injury to “inadequate” tyres, while an earlier TÜV report said that over 60,000 accidents a year in Germany were due to “general tyre causes”, of which nearly 10,000 (and around 50 deaths) were due to tyres with less than the legal minimum tread depth.

The TÜV study named tyres as the number one technical cause of road traffic accidents in Germany, with over 28 per cent of accidents resulting in personal injury caused by inadequate tyres.

By measuring tread depth as the vehicles are moving; either in the street or at testing points, ProContour says that it should be possible to significantly reduce accidents, deaths and injuries.

The company also suggests that the device could be installed at fleet depots, giving an on-going picture of the state of tyres of fleet vehicles. Other suggestions are at freight loading points, ports and border crossings and places where hazardous goods are loaded or reloaded, for example oil refineries.
Another ruse of the system could be as a check that winter tyres are being used in those states where their fitment is compulsory at certain times of the year.

The very presence of such a device on our streets would greatly simplify and enhance the collection of statistical data on the numbers of illegal tyres as well as giving a terrific boost to tyre awareness among the general public – particularly the dangers of driving on tyres with inadequate tread depth.