UK non-profit tyre safety organisation reveals shocking statistic surrounding tyre safety
With summer in full swing and thousands of caravanners hitting the road to embark upon their caravan holidays, a study carried out by TyreSafe, in collaboration with Highways England, has revealed that over a quarter of a million drivers in the UK have been driving with at least one illegal tyre on their car.
Subsequently, the study suggests that there could be as many as ten million dangerous tyres on the roads of England, Scotland and Wales during 2015. That equates to potentially up to one in four cars and LCVs of the 35.3 million vehicles on our roads having an illegal or dangerous tyre at some time during the year.
The study is the most comprehensive survey across Britain’s tyre industry to date, where the data is taken from the tread depth of tyres when they are replaced. With the legal minimum at 1.6mm, your tyres’ tread depth plays a decisive factor in braking and steering, especially, but not limited to, when the road conditions are wet.
Substantial research has also demonstrated that the braking distance from 50mph to a full stop in wet road conditions increases by more than the length of a full-sized shipping container (14m) when using worn tyres rather than new ones, which dramatically raises the chances of a collision.
TyreSafe, the UK’s non-profit tyre safety organisation, is urging all drivers to follow a few simple procedures in order to ensure their tyres are of sufficient quality on the road. The organisation’s procedure, known as ACT, includes: checking Air pressure, as well as the Condition and Tread of a vehicle’s tyres, whilst making sure they are not adding a substantial and avoidable risk to both the vehicle owners and other road users.
TyreSafe believes the biggest reason that many millions of motorists are taking risks with their tyre safety lies in a lack of awareness and education in driver safety.
TyreSafe chairman, Stuart Jackson, said of the organisation’s findings: “TyreSafe does not believe millions of drivers are intentionally putting others at risk – it is more a question of educating motorists to take responsibility for their safety and that of others on the road.
“As vehicles have become increasingly reliable, owners have become less used to performing what were once considered basic precautionary checks before setting off on a journey. Tyres too are much more technologically advanced but they do wear and can get damaged so it is down to the driver to regularly check they’re safe,” Jackson continued.
“The evidence provided by the TyreSafe survey underlines what we already feared – awareness among Britain’s motorists’ of the importance of tyre safety urgently needs to improve.”
TyreSafe believes it’s more a case of luck rather than judgement that there are millions of other motorists in the UK driving with safe tyres. As well as over a quarter of replaced tyres being found to be illegal, over one in three of the tyres surveyed were found to have only 0.4mm of tread depth before becoming illegal – which equates to approximately half the thickness of a bank card. Although that amount of thickness can only accurately be measured by using a tread depth gauge, previous research shows that very few drivers actually check their tyre safety routinely.
TyreSafe emphasises the importance of regularly remembering to ACT: Air pressure, Condition, Tread. To find out more about TyreSafe‘s ACT intiative, click here.
