Tyre safety campaigners say drivers run ‘significant risks’ using damaged rubber

Car tyre experts reveal there is a “bigger problem” than statistics currently show as it is harder to prove collisions were caused solely by faulty tyres. Leading campaigners at Tyresafe have pushed for the government to introduce more awareness for the dangers posed by tyres to boost road safety for all. 

Jason Simms, spokesperson for Tyresafe said “underreporting” of tyre safety was a major issue for road users. 

He told Express.co.uk: “Most people are not aware that in fact there are more casualties caused by tyre-related incidents than there are from the use of mobile phones. 

“And that has been the case for many years, until recently it was double. There are significant risks of not looking after your tyres. 

“We know for a fact there is a far bigger problem in terms of casualties caused by tyre-related incidents than the figures can show. 

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“Because if someone is on a mobile phone and they are involved in an incident, you simply ring up the phone provider and say ‘were they on the phone?’ ‘yes, they were’. 

“Proving that tyres beyond all doubt were the sole cause of an incident when you think of all the other factors, road surfaces, road conditions, driver behaviour. 

“It’s very difficult for the police to be able to prove it was the tyres, so we know there is underreporting going on.”

Data from the Department for Transport (DfT) revealed poor rubber contributes to over 3,000 accidents a year.

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A recent analysis from Halfords found that two-thirds of road users did not know what the legal minimum tread depth was. 

A total of 65 percent of those surveyed were not aware that 1.6mm was the correct minimum and were also not aware they could pick up a fine. 

The survey found that over a quarter had not checked their legal tread depth at all over the past three months.

Mr Simms has called for tyre levels to be stigmatised in a similar way to drink driving and using a mobile phone behind the wheel. 

He said the “vast majority” of road users were “not conscious” of the potential risks. 

However, he revealed some drivers who were ”consciously evading” checking their tyres which could be a dangerous gamble.

Mr Simms told Express.co.uk: “We see all the time that people just don’t understand the basics of their tyres. 

“For example some people will see a maximum pressure stamped on the side of their tyre and believe that’s the correct pressure to inflate it, no it’s not, that’s maximum pressure, you need to check the vehicle specifically to see what it is. 

“When it comes to those people intentionally or not, the vast majority of people are just not conscious of the risks they take, If they were aware of them, the vast majority of us would say ‘why would I take a chance?’. 

“For the sake of walking around my vehicle for two minutes on a regular basis -Tyresafe recommends once a month before every long journey just to check their overall condition – you can save yourself a lot of risk. 

“It’s a case of not being familiar with what they need to do or not putting it as a priority when they set off, knowing what they want to do but thinking I’ll get away with it, it’ll be fine. 

“But yes there are other people who are consciously evading it, there’s no two ways about that.”

source: express.co.uk