The importance of choosing and maintaining tires for road safety
During my recent stint in the United Arab Emirates, I led a group of business students through the development of a Road Safety Awareness campaign. Having spent four years investigating fatal road traffic incidents in the Greater Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) area, many years ago, it was an interesting review of road safety.
The Emirates has the highest road fatality rate in the world, for example, in Dubai, one person dies every 32 hours from some form of road trauma. The rest of the country also has a high rate of road deaths. One area of our investigation that stood out to me was the excessively high number of single-vehicle incidents that apparently involved tire failure.
Emirates has some of the best roads I’ve seen; Divided carriageways in excellent condition, multiple lanes, fencing to keep cattle off the road, and well lit at night. It also has some of the worst drivers and very lax law enforcement. Although the posted speed limits on major highways are 120 km/h, most believe you can hit 140 km/h without getting a speeding ticket. Many people go much faster.
With money to burn, pittance oil prices, fast cars and inexperience, it’s a dangerous mix that kills many young Emiratis every year. The mix is even more dangerous when drivers are unaware of tire specifications and maintenance. I am sure that this lack of knowledge about the tires, in addition to the speed and lack of experience and attention, is one of the main causes of the many rollovers on perfectly straight and well-designed roads.
Tires have different specifications depending on their use. Those specs not only include things like tread pattern, style and depth, construction, etc., but more importantly, the maximum sustainable speed at which they can be used for extended driving. and maximum weight limitations.
He estimates that if you buy a tire with a maximum sustainable speed of 120 km/h, it is not a safe practice to travel for long periods of time at higher speeds. As the Emirates is a very hot country with ambient temperatures in the summer months often hovering around 50 degrees Celsius and above, the ability of the tires to withstand high temperatures is also critical.
When purchasing tires for a vehicle, the owner/driver must consider where, how, and how long the vehicle will be used. Getting water dispersion patterns on the tread in the Emirates would not make sense… it rarely rains, whereas in those cities with a lot of precipitation, it makes much more sense. What one needs for Emirates is a tire that will sustain high-speed driving on very hot roads for at least three to five hours straight. While the load capacity of a tire is not as important (usually over-specified) on sedans, on a light truck, it should be factored into the purchasing decision. Additionally, loads placed on light trucks must be adjusted to the capacity of the tires. No overload.
The next important considerations are tire inflation and wheel alignment. Improper wheel alignment will cause the tires to wear unevenly and is generally a matter of wasted money reducing tire wear rather than a safety issue (unless the tire becomes bald spot). Tire pressure, however, is critical.
Tire and motor vehicle manufacturers specify inflation pressures for tires, usually with variable loads. In addition to wearing out tires faster if they’re under-inflated or over-inflated, tubeless tires can also blow out of your rims if they don’t have enough air pressure. With too much air pressure, tires can blow out or develop weak spots in the tire walls. Eventually, these can fail, causing the tires to burst, collapse, or completely disintegrate.
Since tires are what prevent a vehicle from skidding and provide traction, it’s not rocket science to suggest that they are an integral part of overall road safety. Poor tire selection, improper use, and poor maintenance can lead to disaster.
If only we could get Emirati drivers to pay more attention to the selection, maintenance and use of their tires, the lives of many people could be saved annually. But, as I found out all those years ago, changing people’s attitudes is very difficult, even when it means saving their lives.
How long ago did you check your tire pressure?
Copyright 2008, Robin Henry
