The South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference (SATMC) launched its tyre safety programme on September 1, in Pretoria.
Stakeholders – including original equipment manufacturers, automotive dealers, members of government, national traffic police, and others – attended to discuss, demonstrate and emphasise the importance of tyre safety in preventing road accidents in South Africa.
SATMC MD Nduduzo Chala says a lack of proper safety oversight and regulation – particularly in terms of tyre management – contributes to high rates of vehicle crashes in South Africa. “Consequently, there is a need for more urgent inspection, fixing and replacing of worn tyres, particularly tyres which had a tread wear indicator that is already levelled to the tread of the tyre.”
Chala says road fatalities in South Africa in 2021 and 2022 were recorded as 12 541 and 12 436, respectively. “Further, the cost of crashes amounted to R188.3-billion in 2021, and R198.8-billion last year. The impact of worn tyres in road accidents is among the biggest contributors to road accidents.
“Poor waste tyre management, the trade of second-hand tyres, low disposable income for South Africans, poor infrastructure and a lack of regulatory enforcement are some of the biggest reasons why there are so many substandard tyres in use.”
That cycle doesn’t work properly in the sense that once your tyres reach their useful life, there should be proper management of waste tyres. “These should get collected properly and disposed of or recycled. We are now finding that there are leakages in the market, and those tyres end up indirectly being sold to consumers.
“There is need for consumers to avoid purchasing and using part-worn or second-hand tyres, owing to the fact that they were unregulated, and were often not ideal for use.”
Automotive dealers are also not able to confirm the technical history of second-hand tyres.
Chala says this contributed to over two-million second-hand tyres being present in the local market as South Africans are drawn towards saving money with these tyres due to a lack of disposable income.
Chala also highlighted the need for more consistent regulation of the roadworthiness of tyres. “When you pass through a different province, with Section 213 of the National Road Traffic Act, each province interprets it and enforces it differently.
“The programme we have structured as the SATMC, tries to raise awareness and address that problem and say that enforcement of the law should be as it is. There have also been some amendments that we have proposed, as some of the legislation and regulations have now been updated and are not aligned to what is currently the reality in the market which makes enforcement difficult.”
Chala emphasised the poor state of road infrastructure in many parts of the country adds to this. “Addressing poor infrastructure will also contribute to reducing vehicle accidents.
“The objective of the launch is to align that we have, as the SATMC, created a programme on tyre safety, and we are proud to have partners today who have the same ambitions as us.”
Tyre safety
Chala noted the importance of the SATMC launching its tyre safety programme for the rest of the year. “The issue of road safety and tyre safety are inextricably linked. As we go into that December period where road accidents are more frequent, the more we will emphasise this message of safety to have the impact we want to see.
“What is particularly exciting is the tyre safety programme that we have in partnership with the Road Accident Fund, the Department of Transport and MasterDrive. It brings organisations together in an initiative that is growing, and our ambition is to see how we can scale this initiative going forward,” Ozoux stated.
The SATMC and RAF Tyre Safety Programme will include two-day training sessions for traffic and road safety officers covering topics such as the importance of tyre safety, how to identify safe tyres (including tyre construction, markings, fitment, tread depth standards, and more), how to maintain tyres properly, and the dangers of illegal and unsafe second-hand tyres.
There will be a series of educational roadshows and on-road educational roadblocks in all nine provinces of South Africa. To maximise impact, special emphasis will be placed on major transport hubs like KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape, and Gauteng. A total of 12 sessions will be conducted until March 2024.
Information sourced from Bizcommunity and Arrive Alive