Monitoring operational conditions of vehicle tyre pressure levels and tread depths in Kumasi metropolis, Ghana

Abstract

Compliance with vehicle tyre inflation pressure and tread depth standard specifications and legal requirements were monitored by survey study in Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. The survey covered 400 vehicles, comprising cars (28 %), medium buses (25 %), large capacity buses (15 %) and trucks (32 %). There were wide deviations of the levels of inflation pressure from the recommended pressures on all the tyres monitored. Only 1.25 % of the vehicl-es (i.e. 1 % of cars and 0.25 % of mini buses) registered the manufacturer’s recommended pressures, while the other 98.75 % (rest of cars, all trucks and large buses) did not comply with the requirements; whilst the remaining 5.4 % were classified as worn out. There was high patronage of imported used tyres by drivers, as the said tyres were perceived to be cheaper compared to new tyres, and had good tread depths, but of unascertained quality. The problem of tyre under-inflation (79.4 %) was more prevalent than over-inflation (19.5 %). About 94.5 % of the vehicles recorded tread depths above the legal tread wear limit, implying that most of the tyres were not worn out. The problem of non-compliance with the recommended tyre inflation pressures might be addressed by organi-zing education programmes and awareness campaigns for the drivers, vulcanizers, garage operators, and other sta-keholders, such as the traffic police, unions of transport operators and vehicle owners.

Keywords: Inflation Pressure, Tread Depth, Tread Wear Limit, Under-inflation, Over-inflation