Vehicle safety charity TyreSafe has highlighted the risks many individuals are undertaking by failing to carry out regular inspections on the state of their tyres. Showing good tyre safety by ensuring adequate tyre depth and spotting excessive wear and tear is an important aspect of staying safe during wet weather, and for many parts of the UK it doesn’t come much wetter than at the moment.
As a result, TyreSafe has issued a response to the publication of shocking images which highlight the extent of one motorist’s failure to adequately manage their tyre maintenance, with a tyre that was removed from a BMW M3 owned by a UK motorist having so little tread left that the tyre had no pattern at all.
It had parts of the tyre carcass showing through and as a result, offered little to no grip to the driver in question.
Stuart Jackson, chairman of TyreSafe, commented the tyre was an “accident waiting to happen” and could have proven to be fatal to the driver had the tyre suffered a blowout while travelling at high speeds.
“Adequate tread depth is essential all year round, but particularly important just now when we are experiencing so much rain and difficult driving conditions,” he noted.
“Checking your tyre tread depth is very simple and only takes a few minutes. It really is something that all drivers should do at least once a month to stay safe and legal.”
Tyre safety law requires car owners to have in excess of 1.6 mm of tread across the central three-quarters of a tyre and around its circumference. Overall, there were more than 170 motorists per week who were stopped by authorities in 2012 who failed to ensure this was case, highlighting the extent of the problem.
Moreover, recent research published by TyreSafe showed more than one-third of young motorists (aged 18 to 25) have never carried out checks on the state of their tyres and are not employing good tyre safety practices.
This is a dangerous situation for any driver, as being stopped by police for an illegal tyre can lead to three points being added to an individual’s licence and a significant fine. For new motorists the penalties can be even more severe, as it takes just six points within the first two years of a person passing their test to have their licence revoked.
With wet weather continuing to pervade many parts of the country and an ongoing crackdown on vehicle safety by authorities up and down the country, there really is no excuse for drivers to neglect the proper maintenance of their car and its tyres.
Mr Jackson concluded: “Sadly, the bad weather shows no sign of subsiding at the moment so it’s particularly important that drivers ensure their tyres can cope in these terrible conditions.”
Motorists who fail to adequately maintain their vehicle run the risk of falling foul the law. Individuals who have been prosecuted in the past could find better deals on convicted driver car insurance by getting in touch with the team at GSI Insurance Services (Southern) Limited.
