This was one of the facts to emerge from a series of presentations delivered at the TyreSafe Briefing 2024, held at the National Motorcycle Museum on 13 June.
The briefing was opened by Stuart Lovatt, Chair of TyreSafe, who identified four types of driver when it comes to tyre safety: those who ‘can & do’ who simply need reminding via safety campaigns; those who ‘can & don’t’ who need a combination of education and the fear of enforcement; and those who ‘can & won’t’ for whom enforcement is the only option.
He also said TyreSafe will be lobbying the DfT to develop a THINK! campaign relating to tyre safety, and for an NDORS scheme on the same topic.
Max Brown, head of technical services at National Highways, told delegates that tyre-related issues are the most common vehicle defect contributing to collisions on the strategic road network, and that National Highways’ research suggests that tread depth is being managed well by fleet operators, but tyre pressure less so.
Anne Marie Penny, from the Driving for Better Business (DfBB) campaign, said that around 20m vehicles on UK roads are being driven for work-related purposes
In 2019, some 35,300 reported casualties involved someone driving for work, at a cost of £32.6bn.
Anne Marie explained that DfBB is a free programme with resources for employers including a driving for work policy builder template. Going forward, the aspiration for DfBB is to reach more than 20m drivers through their employers.
Dean Hatton, business manager for the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), said ‘We can’t enforce our way out of this problem, we need to changer minds to save lives’.
Jason Simms, TyreSafe manager, said more than six million tyres in the UK have illegal tyre tread, and two million MOT failures are due to tyre defects.
He added that 152 KSIs each year and one in five breakdowns, are a result of tyre defects; and 75% of fatal incidents where tyres were listed as a causal factor were due to lack of maintenance.
There were also seven Tyresafe Awards and four Partner Awards given out during the briefing, as follows:
Devon & Cornwall Police (Compliance & Enforcement)
Translogik (Innovation & Technology)
Continental (Manufacturer)
Sophie Lyden (Online & Social Media)
National Highways, Max Brown, and Protyre (Outstanding Achievement)
Halfords (Retailer)
Cambridgeshire FRS (Tyre Safety in the Community)
Partner Awards
Co-Pilot (Communications)
Bev Hannah (Road Safety Individual)
National Highways (Road Safety Organisation)
Lancashire County Council (Road Safety Partnership)
The presentations delivered on the day will be made available to download in the resources section of the TyreSafe website shortly.
“He added that 152 KSIs each year ………….. are a result of tyre defects; and 75% of fatal incidents where tyres were listed as a causal factor were due to lack of maintenance.” I’d be interested to know more details of the defects that actually caused – in their own right – these collisions in the first place. Were they all blow-outs at high speed?
Hugh Jones, South Wirral
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