I remember passing the place in 2000 where the accident occurred. People had laid flowers on the side of I-26 in South Carolina, 20 miles from Columbia, memorializing the spot where a head-on collision wiped out most of one family and killed a delivery truck driver whose tire had blown out, leading him to cross the median into the path of an SUV filled with family members heading toward the beach.

It was a crash no one could have foreseen, but it happened because a tire failed and the driver couldn't control his vehicle. People who knew the family told me the tire that blew had recently been inspected and declared to be safe, so negligence wasn't the cause.

Because our lives depend upon safe car and truck tires, governments should not create barriers to purchasing them, but that is not how the state of California does things. California officials lead the nation in dreaming up heavy new burdens to lay on the state's residents and then claim that they are just trying to make people's lives better.

In a recent ruling, the California Energy Commission has laid down new rules about replacement tires that California residents are allowed to buy after 2029. The agency declared:

The tires that come on new cars are typically designed to give drivers better fuel mileage. But average replacement tires are less efficient, meaning that consumers often lose mileage and range when they replace their tires. These cost-saving standards are designed to ensure that replacement tires are at least as energy efficient, on average, as tires sold on new vehicles.

The standards, approved unanimously by CEC commissioners, will save California drivers nearly $1 billion per year in gasoline and electricity costs, putting money back in their pockets. The standards will also reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2 million metric tons per year, equivalent to taking approximately 400,000 gasoline cars off California roads. 

The agency's press release continues:

"Today, we are proud to approve the nation's first replacement tire efficiency standards," said CEC Chair David Hochschild. "This action will help Californians save approximately $1 billion a year on refueling while reducing pollution and extending the range of vehicles on the road. I would like to thank all the consumer organizations, industry leaders and public health advocates for their support of this important step forward for California."