|
Tyre blowouts are all too common on our roads and often result in serious accidents. For this reason, the Department of Transport (DoT) has declared it mandatory that all passenger vans and buses be fitted with tyre safety bands. In the near future, all
Dangerous Goods vehicles will be required to have safety bands fitted to their steering axles.
Paul Collings witnesses a tyre safety band test held at Gerotek under the watchful eye of the DoT.
The point of the exercise held on a Gerotek skid pan was to determine the ability of three makes of tyre safety bands to effectively keep tyres on the rim of a minibus after a blow-out. With members of the South African Safety Band Association (SASBA), DoT representatives and an independent technical expert overseeing the tests, scores of tyres were blown using explosives. The Quantum minibus, fully laden with water-filled crash test dummies and a brave test pilot continued to run on the blown tyres, executing sharp turns, harsh braking manoeuvres and driving some distance in an attempt to rip the blown tyres off the rim.
|
 A Safety band being fitted
|
According to SASBA's Dr Bruce Finnemore, all three safety bands performed well, keeping the driver, his 'passengers' and his van safely intact, albeit with a pile of irreparable tyres in their wake.
While the technology is simple (the band fills the tyre well making it impossible for the tyre to slip off the rim), enforcing compliance required much technological development. Finnemore is also director of idAfrica, a company specialising in RF (radio frequency) identification technology. "Not being able to see inside a tyre fitted to a vehicle, law enforcement officers need a means to determine whether a tyre is fitted with a safety band or not. After almost five years of development, idAfrica has produced a handheld RFID device that recognises an RF transponder fitted to the safety band inside the tyre."
When one considers how easy it is to lose control of a fully loaded vehicle when a tyre bursts, safety bands should be fitted to all steering axles, regardless of vehicle type.
A video camera is fitted to the van to record how the tyre responds to blow-out and run-flat testing |
Dr Bruce Finnemore demonstrates the RFID reader |
Steady as she goes - the Quantum stayed on course after its front left tyre was blown using an explosive. |
|
