Old tyres bill blocked again
Discussion
Apologies if there is a thread already on this, I did search a fair bit.
Anyway, a few years ago a woman's son was killed in a coach crash caused by a 20 year old tyre delaminating. Since the inquest, she has been lobbying government to change the law, and ban tyres over 10 years old from the road.
It's a simple premise and easy go enforce. Germany already does similar.
Tyres have a date of manufacture code in the sidewall which could be checked at each mot. Old tyres, apart from dubious carcass condition and the more obvious sidewall cracks, also have scarily poor wet grip as the rubber goes off.
Not only would the roads be safer, but there would be even be a boost to the economy from increased tyre sales.
Seems like a no brainer, right?
So WHY THE fk was the bill blocked for the 3RD TIME in the commons last night by the Conservatives? What is this "more research needed" that they cited as an excuse?
Anyway, a few years ago a woman's son was killed in a coach crash caused by a 20 year old tyre delaminating. Since the inquest, she has been lobbying government to change the law, and ban tyres over 10 years old from the road.
It's a simple premise and easy go enforce. Germany already does similar.
Tyres have a date of manufacture code in the sidewall which could be checked at each mot. Old tyres, apart from dubious carcass condition and the more obvious sidewall cracks, also have scarily poor wet grip as the rubber goes off.
Not only would the roads be safer, but there would be even be a boost to the economy from increased tyre sales.
Seems like a no brainer, right?
So WHY THE fk was the bill blocked for the 3RD TIME in the commons last night by the Conservatives? What is this "more research needed" that they cited as an excuse?
Probably more to do with commercial tyres being retreaded onto an old carcase. It is big business and there is no evidence to my knowledge that old tyres are that dangerous.
Manufacturers want us to buy new tyres when they are not worn out and having worked in the tyre industry I very rarely saw old tyres that would not be picked up by an mot as the wear was obvious and visible cracks are easy to spot.
In fact it was usually the high mileage cars that had worn tyres that should have been changed. If an old tyres is stored correctly there is no issue in selling one that has been in storage a few years, but if stored in bright sunlight or at the bottom of a pile then yes there is an increased risk.
I would hazard a guess that those who voted had access to all sorts of information and concluded that there isn't a large issue to fix. And know classic vehicles are MOT exempt how would it be policed if made law?
You can sympathise with the mother but it has to be fact based and Germany is slightly different as higher speeds on Autobahn are regular and they use winter tyres as well so not comparable in many ways.
Manufacturers want us to buy new tyres when they are not worn out and having worked in the tyre industry I very rarely saw old tyres that would not be picked up by an mot as the wear was obvious and visible cracks are easy to spot.
In fact it was usually the high mileage cars that had worn tyres that should have been changed. If an old tyres is stored correctly there is no issue in selling one that has been in storage a few years, but if stored in bright sunlight or at the bottom of a pile then yes there is an increased risk.
I would hazard a guess that those who voted had access to all sorts of information and concluded that there isn't a large issue to fix. And know classic vehicles are MOT exempt how would it be policed if made law?
You can sympathise with the mother but it has to be fact based and Germany is slightly different as higher speeds on Autobahn are regular and they use winter tyres as well so not comparable in many ways.
spaximus said:
And know classic vehicles are MOT exempt how would it be policed if made law?
In the exact same way as minimum tread or cracking is going to be policed on those vehicles.It's not just the Bestival coach crash.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23320526
There was a guy killed when an old tyre blew on his MG.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/great...
I binned some Michelins from SWMBO's 2cv a while back - they were just over 10yo, plenty of tread, and had always been stored properly inflated on the car in a dark, dry garage. The new ones - nominally identical - were chalk and cheese from the old. MUCH more grip, much more predictable at the limit, and generally much, much nicer. I've also seen photos of tyres on friends' cars that have delaminated suddenly - and have turned out to be 20+ years old, but looked just fine and had recently passed MOTs.
Bring it on.
As for parliament... Hansard will tell you what happened with the debates.
July 2014:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2014-07-15/d...
Progress:
https://services.parliament.uk/bills/2014-15/tyres...
So it just had a first reading, no more than that.
Currently:
October 2017 first reading:
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2017-10-31/d...
Current progress:
https://services.parliament.uk/bills/2017-19/tyres...
It's already got further than last time, but it looks like it didn't get the second reading yesterday - https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-02-23
It's a private members' bill, so no great surprise. They very rarely get anywhere, just raise awareness. And, as it stands, it wouldn't apply to cars anyway - just buses and coaches.
This is Frances Molloy's Tyred website ;
http://www.tyred.org.uk/
Click the icon in the top right corner for stories/ tyre info.
Binning tyres over 10 years old (max) seems sensible to me
http://www.tyred.org.uk/
Click the icon in the top right corner for stories/ tyre info.
Binning tyres over 10 years old (max) seems sensible to me
My last car had the same tyres all round but the rear ones were four years newer than the fronts, I didn't realise at first and when I had the wheels off they were put on with different ages on different sides of the car on the same axel, the handling felt off till I realised and switched them round again.
I don't see why the manufacturers don't put the age of tyres on the sidewall in a larger font rather than the tiny one atm, guess it may hurt their bottom line if people easily knew how old their 'new' tyres were when fitted.
On a related matter, tyre sidewall data really does need an overhaul, the mixture of metric and imperial for the tyre sizes is rather confusing as well.
I don't see why the manufacturers don't put the age of tyres on the sidewall in a larger font rather than the tiny one atm, guess it may hurt their bottom line if people easily knew how old their 'new' tyres were when fitted.
On a related matter, tyre sidewall data really does need an overhaul, the mixture of metric and imperial for the tyre sizes is rather confusing as well.
CoolHands said:
Have you considered not everyone will agree it’s a no brainier? I don’t want them banned, thanks.
Apart from the safety issue to you - I don't particularly want to meet somebody coming the other way who has knackered tyres.The amount of dodgy tyres out there is already scary - lots of people don't give a monkey's and think that because their car has an MOT it's fully legal.
This is simple to check and legislate for - I don't understand why the government are stalling.
The "research" isn't difficult.
Rubber degrades. Simple.
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