Our Blogs

Tire manufacturer Michelin has launched a campaign aimed at teenagers teaching the importance of tire safety. Many driver education programs neglect tire safety resulting in a lack of knowledge of basic tire safety among driving teens. Such drivers are less likely to appreciate their dependence on properly maintained tires for their own and others’ safety.

According to statistics by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 12% of car accidents involve young, inexperienced drivers who suffered a tire blowout, tire failure, or some other tire-related problem while driving. As part of the campaign, Michelin is launching a series of videos on YouTube that feature popular YouTube stars to educate teenagers about the need to get themselves educated about tire safety.

Michelin and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile teamed up to conduct a survey that found that most American teenagers lack even the most basic tire safety skills to keep them safe on the roads. The folks at Michelin also believe that if most American teenagers were educated about tire safety, as many as 300,000 deaths could be prevented in car accidents every year.

If you are the parent of a teenage child, your child will depend on you to teach him or her about tire safety because those issues aren’t covered in most driver’s education programs. Teach your child to check for tread separation problems. That can be done easily using the “penny test.” Check in a safe and easy manner using a Lincoln penny. Insert the penny into the grooves of the track with Lincoln’s head pointing down. If you can see all of Lincoln’s head, then the tread is too shallow. This is a simple test that any teenager can perform to check tire tread.

Teach your child to check tire inflation, and make sure that the tire is inflated to the right pressure for the vehicle. Check your car manual to figure out what the optimum tire pressure is for your vehicle.

Unfortunately, tires that are not properly inflated or that have too much wear cause car accidents. If you or anyone you know has been in an auto accident be sure to get a personal injury attorney or car accident attorney with experience dealing with these types of cases. Ritchie Reiersen Law has represented over a thousand car accident cases involving injuries and offers a free consultation. Ritchie Reiersen car accident attorneys have offices conveniently located in Kennewick, Tacoma, Auburn and Yakima.