Research by conducted by tyre-maker Continental has discovered that UAE parents are overlooking basic safety checks of their vehicles, putting themselves and their children at risk.
Contrary to the advice of safety experts, most parents are failing to check their tyres regularly enough, with a quarter not even being able to recall the last time they did a proper check, added Continental.
As part of its Vison Zero safety initiative, Continental said it conducted two separate studies; with YouGov surveying the frequency with which UAE parents check their tyres and a second inspecting the state of parent vehicle tyres at GEMS Modern Academy Dubai. Continental and local partner Emirates for Universal Tyres (EUT) carried out standard tyre tests on over 200 vehicles parked at the GEMS Modern Academy in Dubai.
Continentals YouGov survey asked 500 UAE parents about the last time they or a professional thoroughly checked the tyres on their car: 47 % claimed to have done so within the last month with a further 23% and 5% within the last six months and 12 months respectively. A quarter of those surveyed could not recall the last time they had their tyres checked.
Intended to help ensure that parents were ferrying their children safely and also to raise awareness around the issue, technicians visited GEMS Modern Academy and tested the air pressure, tread depth, wear and punctures on 204 vehicles and found that 24 of the vehicles, more than one in ten of the sample, should have at least one of their tyres replaced.
Furthermore, while seven in ten vehicles had the correct tyre pressure, more than a quarter of checks discovered under-inflated tyres a key factor contributing to irregular tread wear (discovered in 31 vehicles) and side-wall damage (found on 14 of the parked cars).
Speaking about the tyre safety initiative, Nargish Khambatta, principal of GEMS Modern Academy in Dubai, said: Our childrens safety is always our priority and such programmes are significant as they educate parents on the importance of road safety.
Road safety continues to be a major issue in the UAE, with recently published figures from the Ministry of Interior and National Transport Authority showing that 525 people lost their lives on the countrys roads in 2017.
Tyre safety is a high concern in the UAE, especially considering the harsh climate. We experience tyre debris on our roads pretty much every day and this should serve as a warning,” said Thomas Edelmann, managing director, RoadSafetyUAE. “Tyre safety is even more relevant in the context of transporting our kids – we just want to make sure we transport our children in the safest possible manner. Caring parents should regularly check the condition of their vehicle and in particular the tyre condition by pre-drive checks. We welcome this initiative of our CSR-partner Continental.
The initiative is part of Continental’s s global Vision Zero programme which aims to totally eradicate road accidents and achieve Zero fatalities, Zero injuries and Zero accidents on the roads.
