According
to State Farm insurance company, a stunning 50% of 11,500 vehicles studied
showed tires with half-worn tread. 10% of vehicles had at least one bald tire.
Another study by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) showed that 27 percent of vehicles on the road have a bald tire.
And, if
those vehicles are traveling at highway speeds of 70 MPH or more, then it
increases the stopping distance by 184 feet on wet roads.
That
becomes a serious liability problem. But, that’s not the only problem. Here’s
what your business need to know about checking your company’s tires, and how to
stay out of trouble with the law.
How To Stay
Safe
As a
business, you need to make sure that your fleet is well taken care of. That
means inspecting, both visually and with specialized instruments, the condition
of your tires. If your tread is worn down on any tire, replace it immediately.
Depending
on how much your vehicles are driven, you may need to do this check once every
month or as little as once every 6 months.
One of
the things that a lot of people forget to check is the air pressure. Air
pressure in the tires must conform to the stated safe or recommended tire
pressure stamped on the vehicle’s interior, usually on the driver’s side door interior.
Inflating The
Tires
Keeping
your company’s tires inflated is serious business. bald or substantially
under-inflated tires are a major risk for injuries and fatalities. Tires that
are underinflated may experience folding of the sidewall. This folding causes
the sidewall of the tire to roll underneath the rim, burning the tire, and
causing irreparable tire damage.
If the
tire is damaged enough, it can cause it to crack and eventually fail -
catastrophically. If this happens while one of your employees is driving, they
can be seriously injured or even killed.
Staten
Island personal injury lawyer, injuryclaimnyclaw.com, is
experienced with these types of claims, and they’re almost completely
preventable. In most cases, it’s a simple matter of making sure you check the
tires each and every week. When the temperature changes suddenly, check them
that day.
Checking Tread
Depth
According
to Jeffrey Runge, NHTSA administrator, tread depth is a critically important
part of maintaining your tires. Unsafe tires should be replaced immediately.
And, checking the tread depth clues you in to the lifespan left on those tires.
One way
to monitor tread depth is to take
a penny and place it into the tread of your tires upside down.
If you
can see all of Lincoln’s head, then your tires are bald. If you only see part
of his head, and his eyes are covered, it’s worn, but probably OK. If most of
his head is covered, then it’s a new tire.
When in
doubt, take it to a tire
specialist. They can use more sophisticated tools to measure the tread
depth and determine whether your tires need to be replaced or whether they’re
fine, as is.
Michelle
Lawson has a background working in various safety roles. Her articles, which
appear on a range of blogs from business to consumer, focus on keeping people
safe!
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