The West Mercia Constabulary collected data on 310 tyre failures observed between junctions four and eight on the M5 motorway between September and November 1971. The data are analysed in this report. Retreaded tyres were found to fail more often than original treaded tyres and heavy goods vehicles were found to suffer tyre failure more frequently than private cars although this tended to lead to fewer accidents than with cars. About two per cent of all tyre failures led to injury accidents and three per cent to all accidents that were reported. The results are in agreement with a previously reported result that about one sixth of all injury accidents have tyre failure as a major contributary factor. The risk of failure increased with tyre wear for car tyres. (Author/publisher)
Abstract