The tyre industry and various government agencies are set to work even more closely together in order to reduce the number of tyre related casualties which occur each year on the UK's roads. The move comes following an extremely positive meeting hosted by PACTs at the House of Commons on Wednesday 5th November which was attended by various MP's, including Steve Brine, and government agency representatives including Department for Transport, Highways Agency and Transport for London. Also attending were representatives from local company Micheldever Tyres.
Stuart Jackson, chairman of TyreSafe, said: "Coming immediately after the most successful Tyre Safety Month ever, this important meeting is set to help raise the profile of tyre safety to a new level.
"It's clear that the tyre industry has a shared vision about how we can work collaboratively to help reduce road casualties further and with further support from government, its agencies and other stakeholders, I'm confident we can continue to make a real difference."
During the briefing, Mr Jackson outlined clear evidence to support the argument that more work needs to be done to reduce tyre related casualties including data monitoring, education and enforcement. Attendees also heard from Tyre Industry Federation secretary Graham Willson who outlined ways in which the tyre industry has delivered other successful collaborative projects.
Further evidence weight was provided by Stuart Lovatt, safety action plan co-ordinator for the Highways Agency and from Dave Etheridge, chair of the Chief Fire Officers Association.
Hosted by former road safety minister Jim Fitzpatrick MP, the meeting was brought to a conclusion with closing remarks from shadow roads minister Richard Burden MP.
Winchester & Chandler's Ford MP Steve Brine said: "Quite simply, worn and illegal tyres cost lives, and as we heard at the event, 981 people were killed or seriously injured in the past 5 years due to driving with illegal or worn tyres. I was pleased to be able to meet up with Paul Fox from Micheldever Tyres today. Paul and the company he led for many years is well known, and trusted, locally and they have really led on this issue. It's all credit to their evidence-based work that it has now caught the attention of Government and Opposition in Westminster."
Stuart Jackson added: "The briefing was a great success with some interesting debate, exchange of ideas and commitments of support. Many tyre retailers have pledged to help us gather data and develop a much more intelligent picture of tyre safety trends and actions. We look forward to reporting further on this in due course."
Pictured; Steve Brine and Paul Fox of Micheldever Tyres
More information ...
All of the presentations from the parliamentary briefing can be found by visiting www.pacts.org.uk.