Social Responsibility

Bridgestone South Africa has been involved in various activites over the past few months and are committed to making a difference in our communities.

Rally to Read is a literacy development programme in partnership with McCarthy Ltd, The Financial Mail and the READ Educational Trust. Bridgestone SA is proud to be involved in this annual programme to improve the quality of literacy teaching in remote, rural South African schools. Participants join teams who deliver reading books, staionery etc to a group of schools in each province, having invested a substantial amount of funds in the last ten years.

Tyre and Brake Watch is a Fleetwatch initiative in partnership with Bridgestone SA and Wabco Automotive, who dedicate their time and support to the safety of all users on South Africa's roads. Metro Police officials are trained by the partners to look for any irregularities or unsafe trucks or buses on our roads. Many exercises are undertaken at various testing stations around the country in one year.

Bridgestone is strongly committed to Road Safety amongst all South African road users and recently launched a campaign called “Think Kidz", the main aim being to increase the awareness of road safety amongst school children, as well their teachers and parents.

At a recent campaign over the Easter weekend, at the Van Reenen Caltex Star Stop on the N3 to Durban, school children, teachers and parents in transit between Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal were made aware of the importance of wearing seatbelts, of being a safe passenger and a safe pedestrian on our roads at all times. Road safety activities were provided for all the visitors including activity colour-in books, crayons, t-shirts and reflective belts, mind games and a signature wall was erected for those who wished to sign their name in support of Make Roads Safe, a global road safety initiative. The partners involved were The Road Safety Foundation, N3 Toll Concessions and UNICEF, who brought their patron, Nicole Fox along to add her signature to the petition wall, as well as talk to the children about road safety.

This will be an ongoing initiative for Bridgestone SA and we encourage all South Africans to raise the awareness of road safety amongst their families.

Bridgestone SA, under the banner of global road safety, have embarked on conducting tyre pressure and condition surveys at various Pick ‘n Pay Hypermarkets around the country. The aim is to gather data regarding the tyre condition of up to 10 000 vehicles in order to set a general benchmark - a National Tyre Pressure Index. 

Results have shown that over 10% of vehicles checked are driving with one or more unsafe tyres, including low tread depth, unevenly worn tread, sidewall damage and tread separation. Of these vehicles, 8% are at extremely dangerous pressure levels.

For more information on our Corporate Activities, please visit Corporate Activities