Truck tire retreads: they can kill, and we must stop them from doing this

If you’ve done any highway driving whatsoever, you’re probably familiar with those curved hunks of rubber, known as retreads or “alligators”, that can most often be observed along the side of the roadway. Well, this debris usually starts off somewhere in the middle of the road and is responsible for causing 25,000 accidents every year, with about 90 being fatal. Most highway crews patrol their turf every two weeks in order to sweep the roads clean, but most states’ budgets unfortunately don’t allow for more frequent patrols, which could lower the accident rate substantially. Retreading is a cost-saving technique undertaken by trucking outfits in order to get a little more life out of old tires, which can be expensive to replace completely.