News You Can Use

RTA NEWS YOU CAN USE
May 6, 2014

An RTA member in Canada sent a copy of the following Blog by CKRM 620 News Director Christina Cherneskey to us and we want to share it with you, along with our response to CKRM 620 News.

Although this is not what we would consider negative publicity, it does come close and we would never leave it without a rebuttal. Please be on the lookout for any articles or radio/TV mentions about retreads that are less than factual and if you ever do see one, please let us know immediately and we promise to take action pronto!

Harvey Brodsky
Managing Director
Retread Tire Association

CKRM 620 NEWS DIRECTOR

As many of  you may know, I spend quite a bit of time on Highway 11 between Regina and Saskatoon. My family is in the Bridge City, my job, in the Queen City. So I know that stretch of road intimately and have come to expect certain things along the trip - many of them the beautiful sights, which I look forward to nearly every time.

But it's the irresponsibility which occurs along that highway which rankles me. Aggressive drivers, dumb drivers who simply don't get it and the truckers who let their "gators" remain behind when a retread peels off their massive tires.

In the past, I have driven my highway-savvy Blazer (which recently just gave-out on me) and was able to deftly move around the tire remains without too much concern for my vehicle. Now that I am lower to the ground and in a car, I have far-differing thoughts about this.

But it was two events which made me decide to make my opinion a bit more vocal: on my trip to Saskatoon Friday, I saw a trucker who had exited his vehicle. As I drove by (slowly and in the other lane), I noticed he had collected his retread and was storing in his vehicle for disposal. I recalled a story 620 CKRM News had aired about a motorcyclist who had been injured after a crash on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of the turnoff to Grand Coulee, early Thursday afternoon. The driver on the motorcycle was transported to hospital by STARS air ambulance. But it wasn't until I read a tweet about that accident in the evening from a trucker who wrote, "Drivers! If you peel a tread, stop and remove it from the driving lane! Be responsible!", that I realized this can be a much bigger issue for all motorists.

Retreads are scary when you encounter one on the highway. At a speed of 110km, driving over that thing can be like hitting a big pothole. Swerving to avoid one is equally as dangerous. Worry about the damage it might have caused is just another added stress.

Every major truck tire manufacturer in the world designs their truck tires for multiple lives. This means they can be retreaded several times, providing they are properly maintained. I learned that after speaking once to Toronto automotive guru Alan Gellman. He says tires that are not properly maintained will definitely fail given enough time. "The main culprits are underinflation, overinflation, mismatching of tires in dual wheel positions, faulty tire repairs, misaligned vehicles and tires being driven with less than the legal limit of tread remaining."

In the magazine "Truck News", data is available regarding retread tires which are "used by 83 per cent of Canadian fleets and 67 per cent of owner/operators, according to research recently conducted by our own Transportation Media division. Some fleets reportedly have eight retreads in their fleet for every new tire."

So, retreads are a reality. There is no denying that. But now that the warmer weather is here, we're bound to see more on the roads. Be vigilant as a driver. Add this to your already long list of things to watch out for.

To the truck drivers who know they have peeled a tread, please be safe when you go out to retrieve it. And for all of you who see a transport parked on the side of the road, slow down and give them room - so we all can get home, safe and sound.

OUR RESPONSE

I found Christina Cherneskey's blog, "Retreads" and "Gators," to be well written and certainly worth reading, but I would have preferred that she had made it clear that all Road Gators are NOT caused by retreads. In fact, about half of the tire debris on highways in Canada and anywhere else comes from tires that have NEVER been inside a retread factory. Tires that are improperly maintained will fail given enough time and it does not matter whether the tire is a retread or one that has never been retreaded.

To blame a retread for a tire that has failed without having the facts is the same as blaming a vehicle for an accident caused by a drunk driver. The blame is simply misplaced. We write this on behalf of our many retreader members throughout Canada who produce top quality retreaded tires with a failure rate not as low as comparable new tires, but actually LOWER.

For anyone who would like more information regarding the true causes of tire debris on our highways, we invite them to send us an email to info@retreaditre.org or phone us at 831-646-5269 and we will be happy to send a complete information packet about the economic and environmental benefits of retreaded tires, along with much more information about road gators on our highways. There is no cost for our packet.

Harvey Brodsky
Managing Director
Retread Tire Association
info@retreadtire.org
www.retreadtire.org

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"A child educated only at school
is an uneducated child."

~ George Santayana