More than two years ahead of their target date, Michelin and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) have secured commitments from all 50 U.S. states to include consistent tire-maintenance and safety information in their driver education programs. Michelin North America chairman and president Pete Selleck told C/D that it had once seemed like a daunting feat for the tiremaker and the FIA, which partnered on a Beyond the Driving Test initiative with the goal of having all 50 states on board by 2020.
“We thought that was aggressive, and then we went to work and discovered some interesting allies in the fight,” Selleck said. Not only was support found in the traffic-safety community, but the states themselves also proved to be key partners, he said. Selleck acknowledged the challenge of approaching dozens of different bureaucracies with the notion that a curriculum needed to be updated. When the effort was launched in 2014, only a handful of states had the kind of tire-maintenance information that Michelin and FIA hoped to include in basic driver training. But states were refreshingly receptive, and they were aided by a basic blueprint that Michelin put together. The new tire-safety and maintenance information will be added when states publish new driver-training manuals. Twenty-six of 50 states have already done so.
Some of the basic but important information to be presented includes education on checking tire pressure and tread wear. Miche...