NEW YORK — Michelin North America Inc., together with the Federation International de l'Automobile (FIA), has achieved a milestone in their drive to improve road safety, getting administrators in all 50 states to commit to include information about tire safety in state-mandated training materials for new drivers.
Michelin and the FIA have been pursuing this goal since 2014 when they launched "Beyond the Driving Test," a program aimed at persuading traffic-safety regulators in every state to include information about tread depth and tire pressure in their mandatory training materials for teen drivers.
At the time, only a handful of states included this basic information.
Crashes remain the No. 1 killer of teens in America, Michelin said, with recent federal safety data showing 12 percent of crashes involving inexperienced drivers could be attributed to circumstances involving improper tire maintenance.
"In the beginning, Michelin and FIA described our ambition as '50 by '20,' with the hopes of securing these commitments from every state by 2020," said Pete Selleck, chairman and president of Michelin North America.
"Our campaign found support with some key organizations in an active and fervent traffic-safety community, and their involvement made it possible to complete our mission more than two years ahead of schedule," Mr. Selleck said at a press conference today in New York ahead of the Formula E Championship race scheduled for July 15 through the streets of Brooklyn, N.Y.