Investigation of Rubber Debris on Interstates

TRIB, the Tire Retread Information Bureau, received a letter from Doug Hall, Road Team Coordinator and a veteran truck driver for more than 33 years. Mr Hall's letter below should be read by anyone who wants to know more about the rubber debris (those ugly alligators), littering our highways.  To: Harvey Brodsky From: Doug Hall, Road Team Coordinator Re: Investigation of rubber debris on Interstates  Dear Harvey:  As a veteran driver for more than 33 years, I have been fortunate enough to have driven over three million miles without an accident. Because of my safety record I have enjoyed many extra awards over the years; the greatest of which has been a promotion to coordinator for a local Road Team. Our basic concern is highway safety. Since 1993 the Road Team has given our safety presentation, which consists of sharing the road safely with trucks, to approximately 65,000 driver education students throughout northern Illinois, northern Indiana, eastern Michigan, and southern Wisconsin.  The information we use for our presentation is information of all types that is pertinent to the trucking industry. In search of good honest facts I decided to conduct an investigation on my own using what has been depicted as the world's most traversed highway, the Bormen Expressway, which is 190, 194, and Interstate 80.  The stretch of highway from the Indiana toll road west to the Illinois state line was our target. It is no secret this highway is traversed very heavily by trucks. Knowing this, I was sure we would find a very high number of eighteen wheel born highway alligators. To make sure this event would carry a high level of credibility I asked one of the member of the road team to ride along for verification of our findings.  Upon entering the expressway going westbound, our very first encounter with tire tread debris was lying on the entrance ramp. It appeared to be a blown out tire from a small car or perhaps a sports car. Continuing west we noticed a lot of very small pieces of rubber along the shoulder. Then we saw another tire casing; it was an 800 size tire like the ones found on campers, mobile homes, etc.  We then saw what we had expected to see lying on the shoulder. Well out of harms way, I decided to put on the four way flashers and inspect it. After doing so we discovered it was a 10 hundred size tire, like the ones found on  garbage trucks or rental units. We also found several small tire casings of 8", 10", 12" & 13" tires; the size one might find on a boat trailer, a pull behind camper or small trailer.  In our fifteen mile trip we only found three tire treads that colild be classified as eighteen wheel born alligators, We estimated that about 75% of all rubber debris found was that of vehicles other than eighteen wheelers.  I don't know if this information can in any way be helpful to you in your endeavors to educate the public on such controversial issues. Perhaps a more appropriate approach would be to educate people on how tires dry rot and deteriorate by splitting and cracking due to a lack of use.  The general public needs to know retreading has become a very high tech industry and using today's technology retreads are being reconstructed from good solid sidewall and tire bodies that are very near the equal of new manufacture. We have already started to include this type of information in our safety presentations.  I support your views and ideas. If I can be of any service to you please let me know. Thank you.  Yours truly,  Doug Hall, Road Team Coordinator

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