DANGEROUS TYRES

Evening Star, Issue 21993, 1 April 1935, Page 15

DANGEROUS TYRES

GAR OWNERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES If any motorist of common sense were asked as an impersonal question “ Do you think that it is very foolish to use worn tyres which are in a dangerous, or at best, undependable, condition? ” he would promptly answer “Yes,” or “Top right,” or give some forcibly affirmative reply. Yet any deliberate observer must have noticed that a great number of cars and possibly, a still bigger proportion of commercial vehicles are driven on the public roads with old tvres, which not only could never be safely retreaded, but have qualified foi immediate decent burial or cremation. Such worn-out veterans, despite the temptation of making a few shillings from the itinerant buyer of old wares, should not be sold, for there is the risk that they might in due course find their way to some unethical “ backyard retreading firm, and so to speak, reappear as whited sepulchres, with brand new tread patterns, but moribund walls, which might collapse at any moment. The tyre companies persistently urge motorists to give attention to inflation pressures and not to drive with worndown casings, but one must suppose that such advice is unfairly discounted on the ground that it is offered by a very interested party. Admittedly tyre manutacturers want to sell their goods, yet they are also anxious to have satisfied customers, and that every buyer should obtain good mileage from his tyres. In fact, to go to an extreme, they might, if they merely wanted to sell more and more casings, refrain from counselling, all users to keep the tyres inflated to the mlit pressures and to check them weekly, with the happy knowledge that many unwarned people arc so casual that they would overlook that duty and their tyres would become unserviceable prematurely. The essence ol the matter is this; Casings which are used month after month at too low a pressure will soon become weakened because of the excessive Hexing and resultant internal friction which undermines their walls. They will not be m. a fit state for retreading, after the original tread has worn down, and will be rejected by any reputable firm. When tyres wear smooth the danger of skidding and unnecessarily prolonged braking are increased, and if their walls have become weakened by abuse there is always the risk of a blow-out, especially in hot weather. It is the legal obligation of every motor owner to maintain his vehicle in a sate state, and it might be asserted that it not only pavs to care for the tyres, but that to ‘neglect them deliberately could in some circumstances be construed as almost culpable negligence.