UK highways authority to roll out tire monitoring system for HGVs

London – Highways England, a government-owned road, traffic and street authority, is planning to roll out a tire monitoring system for heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) following “hugely successful trials”.

In a recent statement, Highways England said year-long trials showed that one in 12 of 100,000 tires checked was underinflated and 5,000 vehicles per month were overweight.

The authority said it 'backed' a pilot programme at Keele Services on the M6 motorway in England before running year-long trials with John Lewis at Milton Keynes, AW Jenkinson Transport at Penrith, and a check site by Driver and Vehicle Standard Agency at Cuerden.

The agency said it is now planning to roll out the system at "strategic route locations across the country."

The “cutting-edge technology” involves a set of high-intensity strobe lights, all-weather cameras and drive-over pressure instruments to collect data from tires.

The system provides instant information about tire pressure, tire temperature, tread depth and the axle weight of HGVs.