TyreSafe has announced a new partnership with South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, strengthening collaboration between two organisations committed to preventing road casualties and improving safety across the county.
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue joins a growing number of fire and rescue services across the UK working in partnership with TyreSafe to raise awareness of the risks associated with illegal and poorly maintained tyres.
The partnership will see TyreSafe and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue share expertise, resources and opportunities to engage with road users across South Yorkshire, helping put tyre safety at the heart of wider road safety activity.
The partnership comes against a challenging road safety backdrop. In 2024, 43 people were killed and a further 748 people seriously injured in road collisions across South Yorkshire – 791 killed or seriously injured casualties in total. While this represented a reduction from 841 KSIs in 2023, the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership has made clear that there is still significant work to do to achieve its ambition of Vision Zero.
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue is already a key partner in the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership, alongside the region’s four local authorities, South Yorkshire Police, National Highways and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. The partnership has adopted a Safe System approach, recognising that preventing road deaths and serious injuries requires coordinated action across education, enforcement, infrastructure and safer vehicles.
For South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, road traffic collisions represent a significant area of operational demand, while its community risk management work includes collaboration with other agencies to reduce the number and severity of road traffic incidents.
The risk is not confined to one type of road. Serious and fatal collisions occur across the county, including on major routes connecting Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley, as well as on higher-speed rural roads. The South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership uses collision and casualty data to help inform targeted road safety interventions across the network.
Tyres form an important part of the Safe System approach because they are fundamental to the safe operation of every vehicle. Tyre defects can affect braking, steering and vehicle control, while illegal or poorly maintained tyres can increase the risk of a serious incident.
Stuart Lovatt, Chair of TyreSafe, said, “Fire and rescue services see the consequences of serious road collisions first-hand. Their experience gives them a unique perspective on the importance of prevention, and that makes South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue an incredibly valuable partner for TyreSafe.
“South Yorkshire has a strong and established road safety partnership, with organisations already working together towards Vision Zero. We want to complement that work by making tyre safety a more visible part of the conversation around safer vehicles and safer roads.
“We’re delighted to welcome South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue to the growing number of fire and rescue services partnering with TyreSafe. By combining their frontline experience and local reach with our specialist knowledge of tyre safety, we have an opportunity to reach more drivers with simple, practical advice that could help prevent a serious collision.”
Robert Horne, Prevention & Intervention Officer For Barnsley “We are pleased to be partnering with TyreSafe to strengthen the road safety work we already undertake with our partners across South Yorkshire.
“Our firefighters regularly attend road traffic collisions and see the devastating impact they can have on individuals, families and communities. Prevention is therefore a vital part of our role, and helping people understand the simple steps they can take to reduce risk is an important part of that work.
“Tyres are a critical safety component on every vehicle, yet they can easily be overlooked. Working with TyreSafe will help us reinforce that message and provide road users with practical information they can use to make sure their vehicles are safe and roadworthy.”
The partnership will support opportunities for TyreSafe and South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue to collaborate on road safety campaigns, community engagement and educational activity, helping reach road users across the region with practical tyre safety advice.
It also builds on the wider role South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue plays within the South Yorkshire Safer Roads Partnership, where education, training and publicity form one of the key strands of the region’s coordinated approach to casualty reduction.
TyreSafe is continuing to expand its network of partnerships with fire and rescue services, recognising the important role they play in road safety education and prevention as well as their emergency response role.
