Dear Editor,
My friend of several years is a public transporter of even a longer time. We enjoy exchanging views on topical matters, and there are times when his insights are particularly instructive.
This time he was expressing his concern about the announcement of a decision not to ban ‘used’ tyres. I found this observation totally at odds with the fact that the very vehicle we were in was rolling on ‘used’ tires. Then he related his experience of the night before, travelling from the airport.
As he passed by the area of Prospect the vehicle hit a pothole and front and back tyres each ‘burst.’ They were used tyres. He reflected how lucky he was to have been alone, in his own transport, with no passenger to feel threatened.
Helped with a change of ‘used’ tires from passing colleagues, he eventually made it into the city. Stubbornly, however, the next day he went to his regular East Coast ‘used car mart’ to purchase a replacement pair of ‘used’ tyres, but left in frustration as he was not allowed to choose; he was being told to take what was offered.
What further scared my ‘used’ and ‘tired’ friend was that the vendors had taken his worn-out ‘used’ tyres, which they planned to vulcanise and re-sell.
He turned to me in more anguish than anger. “You know what? They are people who are going to buy those tyres for their taxis or minibuses. With the condition of these roads you realise how much danger passengers’ lives can be in?”
I could only stare at him in total disbelief. The fault was not in him also, but only in the other stars.
Not true, the fault is really in a traffic control system which has little or no credible forensic capability to diagnose the true cause of some accidents, particularly when speeding is a more discernible factor.
‘Used’ tyres on indifferently engineered roads are a clear recipe for accidents, injuries and even death. In fact the collision could no longer be described as an ‘accident.’ ‘Used’ tyres on wet roads, abetted by worn brakes, should not fall within the purview of any Minister’s decision-making, without the advice of a road engineer, the Traffic Department and, most responsibly, the National Bureau of Standards.
Would they all please step in line for the ban!
Yours faithfully,
E B John
P.S.: With the price of regular size new tires ranging between $16,000 – $18,000 each, how ‘used’ does a tire have to be to fetch only $3,000, even after import duty?
