National Highways rolls out mobile tyre-management station for fleets
National Highways in the UK has invested in a mobile tyre-management station which it has been lending to operators of major fleets.
The tyre technology is installed at any point in a site where vehicles cross, such as entrances and exits.
It combines sensors with vision technology and software algorithms to read tyre pressure, tread depths and axle weight for vehicles up to 7.5t. Any unsafe reading is immediately flagged to the transport manager for fixing.
National Highways says vehicles drive over the station, which can inspect up to 1,000 vehicles a day, and readings take less than 10 seconds.
Assistant project manager at National Highways CV incident prevention team Anthony Thorpe says: “The mobile tyre safety station has tested more than 28,000 vehicles, and 112,000 individual tyres. 12,000 of the vehicles inspected had a tyre inflation issue, with over 4,000 severely under-inflated. 23,000 individual tyres needed attention, and 7,500 required urgent attention.
“All of the vehicles we have tested so far with the mobile technology product belong to operators with excellent tyre management policies,” he says. “It’s clear that vehicles benefit from being checked day-by-day because tyre pressure can alter quickly between even frequent inspections.”