Regular tyre checks ‘could save thousands of lives’

Written by: Abaranji Sivakumar, Last updated:14th February 2022

Regular tyre checks 'could save thousands of lives'

UK motorists could be putting their own lives and those of their passengers and innocent members of the public at risk by failing to regularly check the state of their vehicles’ tyres.

This is the view of car safety organisation TyreSafe, which has highlighted data from the Department for Transport that shows approximately 1,000 people have been either killed or seriously injured on the nation’s roads in tyre-related accidents over the last five years.

Furthermore, where casualties have arisen from an accident being caused by a vehicle defect, tyres were shown to be the single largest contributory factor – accounting for 36 people of total incident volumes.

Chairman of TyreSafe Stuart Jackson commented: “What we’re urging motorists to do is carry out tyre safety checks on a monthly basis, which will substantially reduce their risk of becoming involved in a tyre-related incident on the roads.

“Vehicles have become progressively more reliable over the years so fewer of us need to carry out the weekly maintenance we once did on components like oil and water, but tyres are still in direct contact with the road and all the potential physical objects on them.”

He added that motorists need to be aware of the risks that are represented by a lack of regular vehicle maintenance, as drivers should be confident that their car is in the best possible condition every time they take to the roads.

The safety of items like tyres that will face considerable wear and tear on a daily basis should not be taken for granted and people need to be confident they know how to spot any potential defects when they first arise.

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