Flip flops feature lifesaving water safety message

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has teamed with its partners at Ford to create a flip flop using recycled car tyres which prints the charity’s ‘Float to Live’ message in the sand. A number of pairs will be distributed to lifeguards on sandy beaches but they are not available to purchase. The idea is to raise awareness.

In a recent survey commissioned by the RNLI, only 59% of those questioned (aged 16-64) said they would try to float if they fell into open water and only 55% were confident that they would be able to float if they did fall into open water. The findings show awareness to float has significantly declined since last year.

The goal of the flip flops initiative is to explore ways to get the message out to people.

With 1.5 billion tyres being disregarded each year globally, the upcycled flip flops are created using waste tyres from landfills. They’re moulded using ‘sole engineered tyre technology’ to create the safety message.

It is the second time the charity, which saves lives at sea, and the car company have teamed up to educate on water safety tips and follows on from an initiative trialled last year where they fitted Ford Ranger vehicles with specially designed tyres to create eye-catching ‘tide track’ messages in sand which were shared across social media.

Ford is the official vehicle supplier to the RNLI. The Ranger was chosen as the ‘hero’ vehicle to support the RNLI in 2018. Since then, Ford has provided the RNLI with a range of Ford vehicles including the Ford Raptor, Transit Connect, Ford Kuga and even the Ford Fiesta.

“We’ve seen high numbers of people at UK beaches this summer so it’s imperative that we continue to raise awareness of important water safety advice,” says Guy Addington, RNLI water safety lead. “We’re delighted that Ford are supporting by helping to spread these messages that can help save lives.”