WASHINGTON -- The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP have signed on to support the Obama administration's new tire safety initiative.
Collaborating with tire manufactures, fuel distributors and tire retailers, the U.S. Department of Transportation kicked off a Tire Safety Awareness Month from Dec. 9, 2014, to Jan. 9, 2015.
NACS will communicate the Tire Safety Month to its 40,000 subscribers of its daily news feed, as well as on its website. It will encourage fuel retailers to consider point-of-sale (POS) signage, whether at the pump or inside the store, to communicate the initiative. Convenience stores sell an estimated 80% of the fuel purchased in the country. Both NACS and its members will also conduct outreach to the media to further enhance the visibility of the initiative. This effort will include working to identify flagship locations to help encourage other gas stations and convenience stores to, over the coming months, find additional opportunities to educate consumers about the importance of tire maintenance, for example, through using pumptoppers, hosetags or other visible media.
ExxonMobil will increase the visibility of a 30-second TV commercial, called "Tires," in national network and cable rotation. The spot communicates the fact that "if every driver in the U.S. kept their tires properly inflated, the U.S. would save up to 4 billion gallons of fuel."
In addition to TV, ExxonMobil will promote the tire inflation message via social media channels, like Twitter and LinkedIn, to quickly and simply convey the tie between tire inflation and fuel efficiency.
BP, in conjunction with Tire Safety Month, will work to promote safety, savings to consumers and increased energy efficiency. Over the coming months, BP will expand messaging through its retailer website and through its periodic newsletter sent to a database of some 1.8 million consumer-members of the "Driver Rewards" program.
To minimize the number of tire-related crashes, reduce carbon pollution and save drivers on fuel costs, the Transportation Department is also announcing it will set a goal to finalize a rule establishing a tire fuel efficiency consumer information program by 2017 so consumers can identify the most energy efficient tires; partnering with NASCAR on a Drive for Safety initiative in next year's racing season; and releasing guide on how to Be TireWise: Save Money at The Pump, Increase Efficiency & Protect Your Safety.
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