Tyre Safety

Driving safely is a pre-requisite to keeping your motor insurance premiums low and preserving your hard earned no claims bonus. Maintaining good tyres on your vehicle is one of the keys to driving safely even before you set-off on your journey.

Tyres affect the steering, braking and acceleration of your vehicle, they are the vehicle's only point of contact with the road. Faulty tyres work less efficiently and don't last as long; they could also mean a heavy fine and penalty points on your licence. Below is a summary of the law in the UK in respect of the tyres on your car, van or truck. It is against the law to have:

• Car tyres with tread worn to below 1.6mm*
• A mix of radial and cross ply tyres
• Over or under-inflated tyres
• Tyres with cuts, lumps, bulges or tears
• The wrong sort of tyre fitted to a vehicle or trailer
• Also, all new tyres must meet European standards for load/speed performance, shown by an 'E' or 'e' mark on the sidewall.

Retreads
On 1st January in 2004, ECE Regulations 108 and 109 came into effect, making it mandatory for retreaded tyres to be subject to a type approval test. This ensures that retread manufacturers must meet a specified basic standard in terms of the tyres’ suitability for retreading prior to the process, and their performance after it. It is now illegal to sell retreaded tyres that that do not have the “e” mark.

Punctures
If you are unfortunate to suffer a puncture at the roadside there is some advice you can take with you to make the process of changing a tyre less stressful:

• Always carry a pair of gloves
• A bin liner carried in your boot may come in handy if you need to store a punctured tyre, particularly if it is coated with mud!
• If the surface is soft, the jack can sink into it, so carry a small sturdy board on which to stand it
• Grease the threads very lightly to ease the removal of the wheel nuts
• After repair, have the wheel balanced
• When you have just put on the spare wheel, don't drive too fast. It may not be inflated to the correct pressure which could lead to difficulties in controlling your vehicle
• Incorrect tightening of the wheel nuts can lead to problems such as the brake disks warping and/or damage to the wheel mounting system
• For correct tightening, use a torque wrench

The Tyre Industry Council (TIC)
The TIC was established over a decade ago with the principal objective of improving tyre safety awareness. The Council is a not-for-profit, non-commercial body, funded by tyre manufacturers and the majority of UK tyre retailers, via its Associates programme.

The main, and most successful, activity of the TIC is the roadside tyre check programme, run with the support and assistance of police forces throughout the UK. These checks have been highly effective in reducing the number of illegal and defective tyres on the UK's roads. Overall, the percentage of dangerous tyres on UK roads has fallen dramatically, from 17% six years ago, to 11% today. The Council believes this has had a major impact on reducing road traffic collisions and casualties.

*RoSPA recommends that worn tyres are replaced with an equivalent new unit well before the legal minimum tread limit of 1.6mm is reached - ideally as soon as they reach 3mm.

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