Caravan owners can benefit from an online pressure calculator released by UK safety organisation TyreSafe. The web form tool has been developed to ensure correct tyre inflation levels on the country’s half-million strong caravan fleet when they trundle out on their summer journeys.
A recent independent study commissioned by HiQ suggests UK roads face a growing danger young drivers happy to purchase part worn tyres.
The study, by Advantage Research and Innovation, surveyed more than 4000 UK car drivers who had purchased tyres in the past 12 months to October 2015, aged from 17 to 84. The research showed an increased acceptance of used or part worn tyres as a safe and cost-effective option among respondents aged between 17 and 34, in contrast to the older age groups, where the vast majority would not consider driving on used or part worn tyres.
UK tyre safety awareness organisation TyreSafe invites all road safety stakeholders to enter submissions for the TyreSafe Awards 2016. The awards are open to non-members of TyreSafe as well as its supporters and seek to recognise the work and achievements of those campaigning to raise awareness of tyre safety in the UK during 2015. Winners will be presented with their awards at an evening ceremony on 14 July.
Of the 700,000 or so babies that will make their first journey home from hospital this year, more than a quarter may do so in a car that drives on illegal or dangerous tyres. TyreSafe bases this statistic on the results of a survey of more than 100,000 tyres it conducted together with Highways England, and with the implications of this in mind has launched a new awareness campaign aimed at pregnant women. The safety organisation is encouraging mums-to-be to add CHECK TYRES to their pre-birth checklist in anticipation of the most important journey they will ever make – the trips to and from hospital, before and after the arrival of their baby.
TyreSafe-compiled research frequently shows the human impact of tyre-related incidents in support of its arguments for motorists to increase tyre checks, but the latest infographic from the organisation also counts the economic cost. The estimated cost of tyre-related incidents to the economy over the last five reported years is £416 million, averaging £83.2 million annually, according to Department for Transport figures to 2014.
Former Apollo Vredestein UK managing director Stuart Jackson has joined Bridgestone’s north region senior management team as business development director. Jackson will work in support of all departments in the UK and Ireland as well as the Nordic countries of Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Norway and will manage the delivery of a number of key projects as part of a “continued process to transform the sales and profitability of the business”.
TyreSafe has appointed Michael Bourne as vice chairman. According to TyreSafe, the recent intensification of activities has brought with it the need for further senior representation of the not-for-profit organisation. As it approaches its 10th anniversary year, TyreSafe now has nearly 100 members and supporters, and increasingly works in partnership with a growing number of road safety stakeholders.
The BBC’s Fake Britain covered the dangers associated with buying part worn tyres on 1 December. Made with the support of Trading Standards and TyreSafe, the programme featured Georgina Gee, whose family car was fitted with four unroadworthy tyres by a part worn dealer.
The Fake Britain episode also showed the poor handling characteristics of non-compliant used tyres demonstrated on a test track and tyre assessments by TyreSafe’s tyre expert. It also gave a glimpse behind-the-scenes of a Trading Standards operation.
TyreSafe has launched partworn-tyres.co.uk, a website detailing “the dangers, real cost and legal regulations on the sale of part worn tyres”. Visitors to partworn-tyres.co.uk will find examples of tyres offered for sale by unscrupulous dealers and discovered during such investigations. The description of the sometimes horrifying faults includes tyres which would have been likely to suffer catastrophic failure on fitment, while unsafe repairs, cuts and objects in the tread are also revealed.
TyreSafe has presented Central Motorways Police Group (CMPG) commanding officer, Superintendent Paul Keasey, with tread depth gauges to help it implement its tyre safety policy. The CMPG is responsible for over 400 miles of Britain’s busiest motorway network, reaching from the Welsh borders through to Cheshire and across to the East of Birmingham. Comprising specially trained officers from the West Midlands, West Mercia and Staffordshire police forces, CMPG is the largest single motorway police group in Britain.
NTDA national chairman Roger Griggs used his speech at the 86th NTDA Annual Dinner to echo many of the sentiments expressed at the Tyre Industry Conference, calling especially for unified voices in tackling industry-wide issues. Encompassing cheap imported products, the under-regulated part-worn tyre market, MOTs and road safety, and the importance of attracting young talent to the industry, Griggs’ speech outlined the evolution of the NTDA’s position over the past year and, most crucially the work it is doing in attempting to bring together a variety of disparate voices. Reinforcing the association’s “growth and renewed energy,” according to Griggs, the dinner was the “biggest… in recent decades, with 620 guests in attendance,” indicating the “value…we all place on spending time together as an industry.
After a decade-long hiatus, the National Tyre Distributor Association (NTDA) resurrected the concept of having an annual tyre industry conference, with a new location and new format at the start of October. The new conference sees the association position its gathering as an industry-wide professional event alongside the NTDA dinner. The decision to re-launch the conference comes at a time when the NTDA dinner has itself evolved significantly – this year some 600 people attended (see complete coverage in the preceding section of this issue). But the most noticeable thing was the concerted effort, especially on the part of various industry associations participating, to present a united front. By doing this they showed that the associations are now more interested in highlighting where they stand together as opposed to where they differ.
Shoppers at the Asda supermarket in Colne, Lancashire, were the first members of the public in the UK to be offered the opportunity to have their car’s tyre tread depths examined with the new Hunter QuickTread drive over tread depth measurement system. The equipment was brought along and managed by wheel servicing equipment specialist Pro-Align in conjunction with Asda Tyres and Tyre Safe as part of its support for October’s Tyre Safety Month.
Chelsea Ladies FC will support this year’s Tyre Safety Month, raising tyre safety awareness among Britain’s drivers. Having recently lifted an historic ‘Double’, the team has taken time out of its Champions League preparations to encourage motorists to practise #SafeTyreChecks – the key message of October’s month-long tyre safety campaign. The backing from the English Women’s Super League and FA Cup champions extends the support already offered to Tyre Safety Month by Yokohama, Chelsea FC’s Official Shirt Sponsor, and TyreSafe board member.
The AA is encouraging drivers to check their tyres as research released during Tyre Safety Month reveals the risks drivers are taking by neglecting vital tyre safety checks. Two-thirds of women (65 per cent) and a third of men (36 per cent) do not check their tyres regularly, instead relying on their garage to tell them when their tyres are worn out and need to be changed.
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