Be Tire Smart - Play Your PART Seminar presented by: The Rubber Association of Canada Natural Resources Canada When Thursday, June 23rd, 2005 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Introduction The Be Tire Smart - Play your PART consumer tire education campaign has achieved notable success over the past three years in raising motorists' awareness to the importance of proper tire maintenance from a road safety and environmental perspective. Over the same period, the sponsors of the campaign, The Rubber Association of Canada, in conjunction with The Government of Canada have funded several significant studies dealing with consumers' behaviour and actual test data on tires. Purpose of the meeting To share this learning with industry partners and other interested stakeholders so they can incorporate this information in their own communications with the motoring public. Who attended? This session was intended for senior officials within industry, government, policing, and the environmental community with interest in tire-related issues, including: marketing and technical representatives of major tire manufacturers automotive vehicle manufacturers consumer advocates (ie: CAA) law enforcement agencies Provincial Ministry of Transportation Transport Canada Major tire retailers and distributors On Thursday June 23rd 2005 about 35 representatives from the groups identified above attended the Be Tire Smart Seminar. Several presentations were made over the course of the day which highlighted key events that took place in the Be Tire Smart - Play Your PART campaign during 2004 and early 2005, as well as data from two studies that had been conducted during the same period. Participants were also presented with the 2005-2007 Be Tire Smart business plan. Links to these presentations can be found below. With over 18 million cars and light trucks on the road in Canada it is important to spend time discussing the impact this has on our environment and the related safety concerns. Multiply these 18 million vehicles by 4 times that amount, and that is how many tires are holding all these vehicles on the road. 70% of Canadian vehicles on the road today have at least one tire that is mis-inflated which is a safety concern. 23% of these vehicles have at least one tire under inflated by 20% or more which on top of the obvious safety issues contributes to over 640 million litres of fuel being wasted every year in Canada and an extra 1.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions being emitted into the atmosphere.