Michelin is naming – and shaming – the 10 locations in the U.K. where you are most likely, according to results from its 2009 Fill Up With Air campaign, to encounter motorists driving on dangerously underinflated and even punctured tires.
The roadshow visited 24 cities around the U.K. during the summer, and checked more than 4,500 cars over a three-month period. And what did Michelin find out? It seems U.K. motorists are still unaware of how important it is to check tires regularly. Liverpudlians were found to be the worst offenders, with more than half of the cars checked being driven with dangerously underinflated tires.
The roadshow’s findings show that 36% of drivers in the U.K. are driving with dangerous (between 8 and 14 psi) or very dangerously underinflated (more than 14 psi) tires. The 10 towns found to have the highest percentage of cars with dangerously under-inflated tyres are as follows:
• Liverpool – 51%
• Birmingham – 49%
• West Thurrock – 48%
• Folkestone – 48%
• Gateshead – 43%
• Merry Hill, Dudley – 43%
• Queensferry – 42%
• Milton Keynes – 41%
• Enfield – 40%
• Chester – 39%
Worse, still, in five locations more than 10% of the cars checked were found to have punctured tires:
• Enfield – 23%
• Oldham – 17%
• Guildford – 12%
• Liverpool – 12%
• West Thurrock – 11%
“This year’s campaign figures have, as we predicted, shown a slight deterioration from 2008 which even then positioned the U.K. as one of the worse offenders for tyre safety in Europe,” said Peter Snelling, Michelin’s head of communications. “We believe this downward trend could be partly due to the economic climate as drivers try to save money wherever they can.” (Tyres & Accessories)
