October is National Tyre Safety Month which aims to raise awareness of the importance of correctly maintained tyres and how they can reduce motor accidents across Britain.
Originally started in 2010 by the registered charity, Tyre Safe, the organisation are committed to reducing the amount of tyre-related casualties on the roads.
As the only part of your vehicle that comes into contact with the road surface, tyres are an important feature that affects your car's acceleration, braking, steering and cornering so correct maintenance is essential to the performance of your vehicle.
The legal UK tread depth is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of tread and drivers who are found to have illegal tyres can be charged a fine of £2,500 per tyre and face a three-point penalty on their licence.
According to Tyre Safe, one in five drivers have never checked their tyres at all. You can easily test whether your tyres meet the legal requirements by simply placing a 20p coin into the main tread grooves of the tyre and if the outer rim of the coin is no longer visible, the tyre tread is above 1.6mm.
If the outer rim of the coin remains visible, the tyre tread is likely less than the legal requirement and the vehicle should be taken to be professionally checked.
Tyre Safe recommend tyres are checked once a month, every month because safe tyres save lives.
Comments