Tyre bursts contribute to spike in road crashes – MVA
MVA fund revealed that accidents related to tyre bursts show an upsurge of 62% between 2017 (5) until June 2018 (8).
The fund said that these fatalities emanated from a total of 42 such crashes in 2017 (29) until June 2018 (13), adding that road crashes are attributed to various factors including the condition of the road and the environment, human behaviour (fatigue, drunk driving, and inattentiveness) as well as the condition of vehicles (working lights, tyres).
“The latter plays a crucial role as motor vehicles remain the most robust and reliable form of transportation in Namibia. In order to maintain their reliability, it is important to maintain the safety and road-worthiness of vehicles by conducting daily or weekly checks to spot possible defects before using the vehicle. These checks include the inspection of vehicle tyres as tyre bursts mainly occur due to improper inflation, overloading, low quality, speeding and natural wear and tear,” Surihe Gaomas-Guchu, Chief Corporate Affairs at the Fund said.
She said that among all other strategies that are implemented to reduce crashes on our roads, this simple yet important task of inspecting vehicle tyres regularly, can greatly contribute to the reduction of crashes which will ultimately pave the way toward achieving the Decade of Action for Road Safety goal of reducing crashes to 50% by 2020.
“The MVA Fund therefore, highlighting tyre safety as a means to curb road crashes, appeals to all motorists to pay caution as failure to conduct regular tyre checks, may mean sustaining severe injuries and ultimately loss of life,” Gaomas-Guchu said.
