CORRESPONDENCE

Evening Post, Issue 73, 23 September 1936, Page 10

CORRESPONDENCE

MOTOR ACCIDENT CAUSES

(To tne Editor.) Sir,—While many factors have been referred to as ■ being contributory to motor accidents, little, if any, reference has been made to smooth tyres. I Any average motorist will admit that smooth tyres do not permit of proper control on wet roads and therefore all the testing of brakes and headlights is insufficient- to fully ensure adequate control, and the question of smooth tyres very definitely must be considered. Tyre costs are not so high today that a motorist is compelled to run them down to the canvas. It would be a wise move if the authorities, as part of their safety programme, made j it an offence to run smooth tyres on any motor vehicle. Frequently one will see heavy goods transport trucks fully laden moving at substantial speeds with smooth or almost smooth tyres and it only needs a slight skid to cause what may end in disaster. As regards passenger vehicles it should be specified very definitely that they be not permitted to run on other than tyres having at least some vestige of non-skid tread. Surely the lives of adults and children are worth more than the few pounds which would be involved in the owners of ' such vehicles providing tyres with such a non-skid tread to ensure that they have as much grip on the road surface as they can possibly have. They can have all the most up-to-date safety appliances on the vehicles but if the contact between the vehicle and the road itself is deficient the trouble will never be overcome. I hope that the Minister of Transport will be sure to care for this most important factor in the safety operation of motor vehicles.—l am, etc., EFFICIENT SAFETY.