The danger of potholes with your tyres

Tyre Safety

Tyre Safety Month has arrived, and as the colder months arrive this is a pretty good time for everyone to make sure they stay safe of the roads by checking their tyres for signs of wear and tear. Keeping an eye on your car tyres is really important as it helps to reduce the risk of accident on the roads. Better to be sage than sorry as they say – and you owe it to yourself, your family, friends and other road users to ensure that your tyres are safe and you can do this with regular tyre safety checks.

Did you know that one-in-five drivers have never checked the tread on their tyres, which then rises to one in three among young drivers. This is really worrying but we also understand that for some people, they just do not feel comfortable checking for themselves and then deciding if what they see meets the needs of what is required by law.

Another fact which is interesting is that by keeping an eye on your tyres and making sure they are in tip top condition, aside of the improved road safety – you can also save money as good condition tyres help keep motoring costs down and so with the spiralling costs of motoring lately – every little helps. If your tyres are underinflated for example, you will use more fuel – so make sure to keep an eye on tyre pressures.

It’s important that drivers are educated on the importance and benefits of tyre safety, so they understand the potential consequences of driving on defective tyres. Considering tyres are the only point of contact between you the driver and the road – well imagine the consequences if you don’t check your tyres. As you brake and take bends and corners, you want to be confident that your tyres will perform as you’d expect.

A powerful acronym was created to help imprint the three elements of basic tyre safety checks, the acronym is A.C.T:

Air Pressure

Check your air pressure in the tyres. T recommended tyre pressure for your vehicle is usually printed either on the sill of the driver’s door or on the inside of the fuel tank cap. You will also find that your vehicle handbook has the correct tyre pressures for your vehicle. It is however always a good idea to check with your vehicle manufacturer or local garage as to what their recommendation is in regards to your front and rear tyres as they may suggest different tyre pressures.

Condition

Tyres can collect debris in the grooves of the rubber so if there are any stones or objects stuck within the tread that can be easily removed, then it’s a good idea to do this. Keep an eye on any bulges, cracks or cuts in the rubber, this should be investigated thoroughly by a professional.

Tread

IT’s a good idea to get yourself a tread gauge, these can help you keep an eye on the amount of tread on your tyres, however a little trick is to use a 20p coin to check whether your tyre tread depth is approaching the 1.6mm minimum limit. Simply insert it into the tread at several points across and around each tyre. If the coin’s outer rim is visible at any point then the tyre may be illegal and you should get this checked by a professional.

Hopefully this little article goes some way to helping demystify what to look for on your car tyres, it’s cold out there right now, wet and at times icy – so let’s all make sure we do what we can to ensure we are all as safe as possible in these winter months.

Concerned about your tyre safety? Then don’t worry – simply get in touch with our team to discuss any concerns, or pop along to see our friendly team.