Police checks reveal extent of problem of defective motorcycle tyres

Nottinghamshire Police has revealed worrying findings after carrying out spot checks on motorcycles on the county’s roads. As part of Operation Retina, which aims to combat the number of motorcyclists who are dying on the county’s roads, more than half of all the bikes which were randomly stopped over a one-week period during the road checks were found to have defects including worn tyres.

This mirrors data released by Vehicle Operator and Services Agency (VOSA) which revealed that bike MOT failures increased significantly from 1,700 to 5,000 between 2006 and 2007, highlighting the fact that bikers are simply not looking after their machinery.

During the month of March, TyreSafe launched Bike Tyre Safety Month for the first time to highlight the dangers of illegal or sub-standard tyres, and to provide valuable advice to help prevent accidents on the road at a time when thousands get their bikes out after the winter, an objective shared by Inspector Ben Crane, of Nottinghamshire Police. He said: “Our message to people really would be to make sure they check their bikes over before they get them out on the road for spring.”

Following the recent initiative, TyreSafe says that the future is looking more encouraging, shown by the record number of people downloading their “Motorcycle Tyres and Your Safety” leaflet from their website (www.tyresafe.org), indicating that people are paying more attention to the condition of their tyres, which was not the case only one month ago.

Due to the success of this year’s campaign, and the extensive support of tyre manufacturers and retailers, TyreSafe is now looking to run Bike Tyre Safety Month in 2009.

For further information on motorcycle tyre safety, visitors may download the “Motorcycle Tyres and Your Safety” leaflet for free at tyresafe.org/tyre-safety.