Check your tyres to ensure safe motoring
Gulf Times recently highlighted that the indiscriminate use of balloon tyres - meant only for sand or desert - on large SUVs plying the highways is causing many fatalities and injuries.
This neglect of safety norms has come at a time when Qatar has launched a new road safety campaign under the brand “One Second”.
Large SUVs constitute the majority of vehicles involved in road traffic accidents in Qatar and an overwhelming number of them run on balloon tyres with very little road traction, as warned by a road safety expert.
Though Qatar has banned the import and use of balloon tyres (for passenger vehicles) unless accompanied by a certificate of conformity with requirements specified in the relevant technical regulations, the Traffic Department – through an announcement in March 2012 - further extended the deadline for enforcing the ban.
The balloon tyres commonly seen on large SUVs on Qatar roads have the tread run parallel to the tyre, offering very little traction on road. As effective as they are in the precise condition they were designed and tested for, they are incredibly dangerous when used on the highway.
In the past, most of the balloon tyres sold in Qatar had the warning message “Tyre design for safari in desert only. Not for highway service”, imprinted on the outer wall, but of late most manufacturers have dispensed with this.
The sidewalls of balloon tyres are as soft as possible and many well-known brands do not have steel belts to keep the weight down. These are perfect on the sand where a balloon tyre needs to spin over sand without biting or digging in.
To borrow the words of the road safety expert - “However, drive SUVs with these tyres on the highway and you have a recipe for disaster – a scenario we so often encounter on our roads. Under emergency braking conditions, which are quite often in Qatar, these tyres contribute significantly to many road fatalities and injuries.”
Motorists who want to install balloon tyres on their SUVs should ensure they meet the GCC and Qatar standard. Never use a tyre without the manufacturing date on its sidewall.
If balloon tyres are to qualify for the GCC and Qatar safety norms, the following are the standards that should be stamped on to the outer sidewall: “Tyre designed for highway and desert services”, Temperature grade: A, traction: AA, type of tire: Radial (R), speed symbol: S (180 and higher), and date of production.
Temperature grades indicate a tyre’s resistance to heat. It is learnt that almost 60% of the tyres available in the market are rated B. For Qatar conditions, nothing less than A should be considered.
Given the intense summer heat being experienced currently it would be advisable for all motorists to get their tyres checked and those using balloon tyres on their SUVs for driving on highways should urgently put an end to the practice.
