Last week, Continental, the leading tyre and automotive technology group, brought its ‘Vision Zero Live’ event to Mondello Park Race Circuit in Co. Kildare. Over three days, consumers, staff from tyre retailers and managers of large company fleets had the opportunity to participate in a range of ‘hands on the wheel’ demonstrations of the company’s latest tyre and automotive technologies.
As a long-standing expert in the broader automotive sector, Continental and its five divisions has a very clear vision. The company wants to achieve zero injuries, zero fatalities and zero accidents on our roads – hence, Continental’s Vision Zero initiative. The company aims to achieve this through ensuring that Continental’s full range of technologies, from the company’s renowned German-engineered premium tyres to the safety systems that are in many of the vehicles from all of the main car brands.
Using a fleet of some 20 vehicles to run a series of eye-opening demonstrations, participants at the Vision Zero Live event were shown how dangerous it is to drive on tyres that are at or near the legal tread depth level of 1.6mm. In addition, there was the opportunity to get behind the wheel and perform emergency braking manoeuvres in cars fitted with premium and budget tyres and to observe the difference in performance and stopping distances.
Some of the Continental automotive technologies that were on display included ‘Autonomous Emergency Braking’ (AEB ) where the car will stop automatically if the driver does not intervene to avoid a collision. AEB is becoming ever more popular on all types of cars and is no longer the preserve of the more premium brands.
One of the most popular activities from Vision Zero Live was the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a Mercedes E Class with all of the windows blacked out and just the option of using the car’s camera and sensor systems to navigate a pre-prepared course.
Speaking about Vision Zero Live, Tom Dennigan, Head of Continental Tyres Ireland, told us: “This event is all about educating the public about the wider expertise of the Continental Group and showing our long-standing commitment to safety. Many people know us for our premium tyres but we also wanted to show people that we have long been experts at developing automotive safety systems that are embedded in many of the cars that we see on the highways and byways of Ireland. It was also a great opportunity to show participants in a practical way the importance of proper tyre care, with many consumers commenting on how scary it was to see the danger of driving on tyres with excessively worn tread.”
