TYRE SAFETY
TyreSafe has welcomed the support of Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner, Emily Spurrell. The announcement is another boost to TyreSafe’s commitment to raising awareness of the importance of tyre safety in the community.
Fleets are racking up additional running costs though drivers running vehicles with tyres that are underinflated. According to ATS Euromaster, 12 per cent of the vans and cars it sees under its fleet Mastercare programme feature tyres that are below pressure. The results, says the national tyre and maintenance provider, will be to inflate running costs by between 3-10 per cent depending on the degree of under-inflation.
During Tyre Safety Month, Bridgestone has renewed its plea for motorists to take extra care on the roads. It has created a consumer facing campaign to highlight the importance of checking tyres and launched a new online portal that offers tips and advice on correct pressures and tread depths as well as advice for selecting the right tyre.
As the conservative party chooses a new leader, something that will result in a new Prime Minister of the UK, both candidates have weighed in with their views on transport policy. For her part, Liz Truss has said she is willing to look at making motorway speed limits “advisory”.
Ring Automotive has reiterated the need to look after tyres, following research by road safety charity TyreSafe revealing that more tyre-related incidents are reported in summer than at any other time of the year.
More than 41,500 breakdowns were caused by tyres in 2021. That is over 20 of all breakdowns, according to National Highways, which has launched its summer safety campaign urging motorists to check their vehicles before driving.
The government is considering scrapping the annual MoT test and replacing it with an inspection every two years, and this is a proposal that TyreSafe would like decision-makers to ponder very carefully – for the sake of road safety.
A campaign group made up of anonymous climate change activists reports that it has deflated the tyres of hundreds of SUVs across more than 13 locations in the UK. The group, which calls itself “The Tyre Extinguishers” claims that it “disarmed” SUVs in Chelsea, Chiswick, Harley Street, Hampstead Heath, Notting Hill, Belgravia, Clapham, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Sheffield, Liverpool and Edinburgh on the evening of 7 March 2022. However, it is less clear whether they considered the safety and indeed environment implications of such vehicles driving on underinflated tyres.
Halfords’ Tyre Safety video game, 20,000 Miles in Two Minutes, launched in October for tyre safety month, was aimed to test driver’s knowledge and raise awareness around tyre safety standards. As of today, the game has been played over 7,000 times, revealing that many drivers lacked basic safety knowledge.
Tyres are all the same right? Wrong. They all look round and black, but there’s a lot more to them than meets the eye. Whether diggers, trucks, tractors, motorcycles or cars, most vehicles need tyres.
TyreSafe has calculated that UK motorists waste more than £600 million worth of fuel due to tyre underinflation. Using data from Michelin’s Fill Up With Air survey showing that 57 per cent of vehicles are driven on underinflated tyres, as well as information sourced from the Department for Transport and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, TyreSafe is tying the economic argument for ensuring tyres are correctly inflated alongside safety concerns for this year’s Tyre Safety Month. Referring both to the general awareness of tyres as a vital safety component and rhetorically to question why drivers would not check their tyres at least once a month, his year’s October campaign asks Britain’s motorists directly: “What’s Stopping You?”
Following on from a collaboration with National Highways (then Highways England), WheelRight began piloting its automatic tyre safety check system with supermarket giant Tesco since the start of the year.
October is Tyre Safety Month, and for this year’s annual campaign, TyreSafe is asking Britain’s motorists What’s Stopping You? To educate drivers on the importance and benefits of tyre safety, the association has developed what it calls “impactful, and realistic depictions of scenarios involving families, loved ones and young drivers.” It says these will “resonate with a range of audiences and highlight the potential stakes of driving on defective tyres.”
Uncertainty about the safety and logistics of foreign travel means more holidaymakers will drive to other parts of the UK. YouGov data shows 47 per cent of British holidaymakers are planning to visit another part of the country in 2021, with many relying on their vehicle to get them to their destination. This rise in longer car journeys has prompted TyreSafe to remind drivers that there are more tyre-related incidents on the roads in summer than at any other time of the year.
Only one in six drivers remembered to check their tyre pressure before setting off on a long journey, according to research commissioned by Highways England. Yet one in five motorway breakdowns are caused by worn or incorrectly inflated tyres and nearly a third of drivers confessed that they’re not confident checking tyre pressure.
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Jason Roberts; TyreSafe
Policy Exchange
Ring Automotive
National Highways
The Tyre Extinguishers
Halfords
Jan Kopriva
Highways England