Bridgestone is urging the Government to have a rethink over proposals to change MOT testing laws on new cars.
In his position as Bridgestone’s north region MD – as well as chair of the SMMT Aftermarket Section – Robin Shaw (pictured) has expressed concern at the chancellor’s plans to extend the deadline for new cars and motorcycles to be MOT tested after four years instead of three.
He said: “Our roads would be more dangerous than ever if changes are made.”
The Government says that the move would save motorists more than £100 million per year. However, Shaw is strongly advising a reassessment, as he believes the added 12 months will result in more cars running on illegal tyres below the 1.6mm tread depth limit.
When Highways England checked more than 100,000 tyres in England, Scotland and Wales, 27% were below the 1.6mm limit and 39% between 1.6mm and 2mm.
He said: “We oppose these proposals, as we believe they will lead to an increase in the number of unsafe and illegal vehicles on our roads.
“The Government is claiming that by considering this change, motorists will save money because modern day cars don't need their vehicles tested as often.
"The worry is that within the 12 month extension, motorists will be driving around with defects that are actually more costly to repair – and significantly more dangerous as a result.”
Figures from the Department for Transport (DfT), as presented by TyreSafe in July, state that tyres are the number one contributing factor to killed or seriously injured (KSIs) cases in the UK over the past five years (36%) in terms of vehicle defects, more so than braking and steering faults (31% and 16% respectively).
According to the DfT, 981 people were either killed or seriously injured from dangerous tyres over the past five years and Bridgestone believes that a law to lengthen the first MOT test to four years will only add to those figures, particularly when the average life of a car tyre is around three years.
Shaw said that the cost of tyre related road casualties in the past five years stood at £435,593,773, according to figures from the DfT, and argued that the figure would only rise due to tyres coming to the end of their life – and motorists not checking them.
“The tyre industry spends a great deal of time attempting to educate motorists about checking their tyres more regularly, but we know that one in five drivers have never checked their tyre tread depth,” he explained.
“When coupling this with the fact that a tyre often needs replacing within four years due to wear and illegal tread depth, you can see that this Budget proposal could have disastrous consequences, with our roads becoming more dangerous than ever.
“We firmly believe that the change in law would negatively impact upon the number of road deaths and casualties on our roads each year.”
bish - 16/10/2015 20:50
The subtext of what Robin Shaw means is that he's the MD of a tyre company and this new regime will affect him and his sales of tyres. He's hardly reputed for his caring attitude to anyone other than Shaw himself.