The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance annual International Roadcheck (June 7-9) will focus on tire safety this year. Tires are an under-appreciated part of any vehicle’s safety profile.
Back 2007 Tirerack.com tested the same vehicle with different tires (tires with differing tread-life remaining on the tires). They tested tires with 10/32” of tread (new), 4/32”, and 2/32”. They tested the vehicle stopping on a rain-soaked test track from 70 MPH. The car with new tires stopped in 195 feet. The car with 4/32” of remaining tread-life stopped in 290 feet. And when the car had tires with 2/32” of remaining tread-life it took nearly 379 feet to stop.
Those distances are exacerbated by the increased weight of a tractor-trailer. Because heavy-duty trucks weigh more, even in the best of conditions, they take longer to stop. If the tires are worn, those longer stopping-distances would grow even greater and could potentially endanger other drivers on the street.
Goodyear recently had an advertising campaign where they highlighted various industries who counted on their tires. As I wrote previously, the general public does not realize how important tires are to their ability to stop safely. At the end of the television commercial Goodyear asked, “What’s stopping you?”
And thus I applaud the Commercial Safety Alliance and their upcoming International Roadcheck. Making sure tires are safe is hugely important to the overall safety profile of any vehicle, especially one with a gross vehicle weight rating that can exceed 70,000 lbs.
So I encourage you all, whether your daily driver is mini-van with school stickers, or a tractor-trailer with fuel-saving aero-aids. Get your tires checked out and be safe out there.
Thanks for reading.