Tyrosafe Project to Hold Final Workshop in June

The final workshop for the 'Tyre and road surface optimisation for skid resistance and further effects' coordination action, a project thankfully more commonly known by the acronym TYROSAFE, will take place in Brussels, Belgium on June 10, 2010. The workshop will feature the development, assessment and final results of the TYROSAFE project.

The main objectives of the TYROSAFE project have been to raise awareness, to coordinate and prepare for European harmonisation and to optimise the assessment and management of essential tyre/road interaction parameters in order to increase safety and support greening of European road transport. The TYROSAFE coordination action, funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme, (the EU’s main instrument for funding research in Europe between the years 2007 and 2013), not only focuses on road surfaces – tyres, and the interaction between the road surface and tyres, also forms a priority.

“Only an optimised interaction (between tyres and road surfaces) can lead to a high level of safety for drivers on the roads in European countries while ensuring the most positive greening effect, through reduction of CO2 output and noise emissions,” states TYROSAFE.

TYROSAFE aims to provide a synopsis of the current state of scientific understanding and its current application in national and European standards. Its intention is to identify the needs for future research and propose a way forward in the context of the future objectives of European road administrations in order to optimise three key properties of European roads: skid resistance, rolling resistance and tyre/road noise emission. The project has specifically focused on tyres and their interaction with the road surfaces, including: the lack of awareness of the importance and contribution of skidding resistance, the lack of harmonised systems for comparing skidding resistance (even within Member States), and the concern over conflicts with other important characteristics of road surfaces.

The June workshop will bringing together representatives from the road related industry, road decision makers, owners, operators, stakeholders, contractors, academia, the European Commissions and researchers.