Radio listeners wishing for more tyre-related airplay will envy those living or working in Leicestershire – throughout September and October TyreSafe’s ‘Check Your Pressure’ song will get airplay on community radio station, Hermitage FM, thanks to the organisation’s newest member, Jeff Fowkes Wheels Limited.
Since its debut almost two years ago, some 30 passenger car tyre dealers have joined Kumho Tyres Australia’s ‘Platinum’ dealer programme. The tyre maker has now extended the scheme to the commercial vehicle tyre market with the opening of its first Kumho Komplete Platinum dealer – Bernie’s Tyres in Rockhampton.
Research conducted among 625 motorists from vehicle remarketing company, British Car Auctions (BCA), reveals that 23 per cent of motorists have ignored red warning lights on their dashboard, choosing to continue driving before addressing the problem rather than stopping as soon as safe to do so. And whilst over half said they would stop immediately and call for assistance a small minority (5.5 per cent) said they would deal with it when they had time with some hoping it might just go off of its own accord! When it comes to amber advisory warnings, 36 per cent of motorists who responded to the BCA research said they had ignored amber advisory dashboard warnings and did not respond to them with any urgency. Over half (59 per cent) of those polled would continue on to their destination if an advisory light appeared and then address the problem. The research does not reveal how many – if any – of the warning lights were related to TPMS and runflat tyres.
TyreSafe has voiced its approval of new advisory messages shown on UK roads. The Highways Agency is displaying the slogan ‘safe tyres save lives’ on its overhead electronic advisory signs in bid to help reduce the number of tyre related incidents occurring on the nation’s road network. The Highways Agency’s choice of message may have been prompted by the more than 2,500 tyre related breakdowns reported by the agency in May and June alone.
A motorist who claimed to have taken so much Viagra he could not leave the house was just one of a number of excuses from people who failed to tax their car.
According to information released by DVLA, motorists caught for not having a tax disc last year used a variety of excuses, which included "My mate said that if the cost of the tax is more than what the car's worth you haven't got to pay it."
One motorist claimed to have fallen out of a tree while fruit picking and broke both arms so they could not fill in the necessary forms, while one motorist even blamed their mobile phone.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists has issued a tyre maintenance warning to UK drivers after a total of 3,852 tyre-related incidents were reported on England's motorways between April and the end of June 2013. This average of 1,284 per month is a result of motorists often putting off tyre repairs to save on costs, IAM says, though it is actually cheaper to replace worn or damaged tyres where necessary, rather than waiting to face a burst tyre and having to be towed off the motorway.
They’re still legal in the UK, but many other countries are choosing to distance themselves from part-worn tyres. Ghana is the latest to announce it will enforce a ban on these products. The country’s governmental road safety authority, the National Road Safety Commission, will begin doing so in September 2013. Prior to this date the NRSC will run a public education campaign to prepare motorists.
Michelin’s head of Fleet, Dave Crinson, is issuing a warning to drivers against becoming complacent with tyre pressure following the introduction of Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems. TPMS became mandatory on all newly homologated cars in November 2012, and while Michelin welcomes the new European legislation concerning the device, which has been introduced to improve road safety and reduce CO2 emissions by alerting drivers when pressures fall below a certain level (typically 20 per cent under-inflated), Crinson is keen to highlight that TPMS is not an alternative to regular tyre checks.
Bridgestone aims to bring high performance to the smaller, sporty version of evergreen mass market brands with the Potenza Adrenalin RE002. The manufacturer describes this as being “designed with the sport conscious, thrill seeking driver in mind, possessing the ability to transform any car into a spirited, superior vehicle.” It has a line-up of sizes that includes 15 to 16 inch fitments for models such as the Fiesta RS and sports model Astra. It is, in Bridgestone’s opinion, “at its best on Britain’s maze of B roads and lanes.”
Just Tyres has opened a new centre in Newbury, Berkshire on the site formerly run by A&B Tyres. The independent garage reportedly invested more than £500,000 in the new centre, creating six new jobs in the process. This investment, including extensive renovation work and new state-of-the-art machinery, is being backed by Bridgestone, which is offering a series of sales incentives to coincide with discount offers on its range at the store.
In order to ensure motorists maintain tyres at the correct pressure with the minimum of fuss, Continental has produced an air pressure table that covers some 700 current vehicle models from 42 manufacturers. The table provides unladen and laden values and includes each model’s various tyre options.
Michelin has launched its new Stealth and Rainforce ranges of windscreen wiper blades, which together offer replacement fitments for approximately 95 per cent of the cars on UK roads.
Research from vehicle remarketing specialist, British Car Auctions (BCA), suggests motorists will welcome news of new powers for police to tackle bad driving. In a survey of 800 motorists, BCA found that 'selfish driving' is the thing motorists hate most about other drivers, with 70 per cent citing this as one of their top three frustrations. 57 per cent of those polled were concerned about other motorists using a mobile phone while driving, while over a third (34 per cent) said motorists texting while driving was a major frustration.
Breakdown statistics collected by Germany motorists’ organisation ADAC indicate that its crews were called out to 2.6 million breakdowns last year. In almost one-third of these cases, motorists summoned the ADAC because their car simply failed to start due to a flat or defective battery. Battery-related problems are the single most common cause of breakdowns, and have been so for a number of years now. But in future, vehicles will be able to identify a low battery and report this to drivers via a smartphone app.
Two thirds of UK drivers would be devastated if they lost their car according to figures published as Road Safety Minister Stephen Hammond launched a new THINK! drink-drive campaign to raise awareness of the consequences of a conviction. The survey of nearly 20,000 adults, commissioned by the AA and conducted by Populus, also shows that:
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
