We all know that worn tyres can cause accidents. Think about the trust we place on a bit of rubber when we floor the accelerator… and then remember when you last looked to see if your tyres are safe.

Fortunately women drivers who are members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club can have their tyres checked by a garage professional as part of their quarterly Car Fitness Check regime – no extra charge AND all participating garages have signed the female friendly FOXY Promise to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell women things they don’t want to buy.’
So there’s peace of mind that you won’t suffer the sort of sales pressure at a FOXY garage that you might if you choose a rogue fastfit or garage by mistake.

But you still need to check your tyres more regularly than this; ideally once a month and, to quote the meerkat,  it’s simples to do.

Just insert a 20p coin into the main tread grooves of your car tyres – if the outer rim of the coin is covered by the tread, this indicates sufficient tread depth to be safe and legal. If the outer rim of the coin is visible, your tyres need attention.

And if the seven year olds in the TyreSafe photo can do it, then so can you.

It’s also a good idea to get into the habit of walking round your car every time before you get in it. You’ll then become used to looking for the likes of a slow puncture or tyre wall damage caused by kerb scuffs or worse.

simples for tyres

Current UK law requires a minimum of 1.6mm of tread across the central three quarters of the tyre, around its entire circumference. If your tyres aren’t legal you can be fined up to £2,500 and three penalty points for each illegal tyre.

In 2009/10, 2.3 million vehicles failed their annual MOT test where ‘tyres’ was one of the reasons for referral and 1.6 million of these were because the car’s tyres did not meet the 1.6mm requirements. I shall remember this stat because of the 1.6 numeric coincidence…

Additionally, the number of drivers prosecuted by courts in England and Wales during 2008 for driving on defective tyres totalled 4,300 convictions (up by 14%). And you would imagine the 2009 figures will reflect the same sort of recessionary pressures to save money on car maintenance (without thinking…).

So in case you have ever doubted it, it really does make safety and financial sense to be a FOXY Lady Driver because our car checks are free and carried out by measurably good and female friendly garages (fast fits and dealerships too).

Why not join the Club now? Or tell your friends and family. All it costs is £23 for a lifetime sub and £3 of that goes to a cancer charity.

Priceless surely when it comes to driver safety alone.

FOXY Steph

Worrying research carried out by ‘not for profit’ road safety organisation TyreSafe suggests that male and female motorists are more likely to buy part worn tyres than they were 12 months ago. One assumes that this is due to the escalating cost of motoring and the financial pressures that we are all facing.

The problem is that whilst part worn tyres may seem cheap they are a false economy because they can pose a significant safety hazard to the driver, her passengers and other road users. In fact, in 2008 illegal, under-inflated or defective tyres are said to have contributed to the deaths of 34 drivers and the injuries of more than 900 other motorists.

The Chairman of TyreSafe, Stuart Jackson, reminds us that tyres play a critical role in vehicle safety and that there are very strict requirements to do with the sale of part worn tyres. But that, apparently, does not stop part worn tyres getting into the system from unreliable sources that do not meet the required standards. Stuart’s advice is simple and to the point…

“Whilst we understand the financial pressures being faced by [female] motorists today the risks associated with fitting part worn tyres are too high and we would always recommend fitting brand new tyres.”

Unsurprisingly TyreSafe research found that younger and novice drivers are much more likely to compromise their safety by buying part worn tyres compared with older drivers. One in five drivers aged between 18-34 said they were more likely to buy part worn tyres (compared with 12 months ago), whereas only one in twenty drivers aged over 55 said they were more likely to buy part worns.

Part worn tyres can come from a variety of sources making it extremely difficult to know their history. Some come from vehicles which have been written off following an accident; others are put back into service having been changed by their original owner; and many arise from situations where drivers switch between a set of summer and winter tyres and choose to refit brand new tyres rather than refitting their old set.

FOXY’s advice echoes Stuart’s -  don’t buy part used or worn tyres unless you know their pedigree.

But how can the industry convince young student drivers, for example, who are unlikely to be reading blogs like this but who need every financial save they can get, living in debt and on limited funds?

The answer is surely to formalise the supply chain so that any used tyre sale comes with an approved provenence, with liability attached to the seller…

I suspect that is easier to write than do.

FOXY Steph

For more information about tyre safety or the dangers of part worn tyres, visit TyreSafe.

Find out how foxy lady drivers save money on everyday motoring costs

FOXY ladies who need a set of four high performance or 4×4 tyres, please note that Cooper Tire Europe is giving away a fabulous package for four to Ladies Day at Ascot on June 17.

Women drivers buying a set of four Cooper high-performance or 4×4 tyres between now and May 15 will be entered into the free draw to win a full Royal Ascot hospitality package for four people including hotel accommodation and £50 worth of betting vouchers per person.

The winning group will be treated to a stay in the Royal Berkshire Hotel, grandstand and paddock access, a champagne and Pimms reception, lunch and afternoon tea.

Cooper Tire Europe managing director, Julian Baldwin, said, “Ladies Day at Ascot is one of the biggest dates in the society diary, so I’m sure our customers will be hoping not to fall at the first hurdle and be first past the finishing post.”

Every entry to the competition will also receive a free luxury picnic blanket to use on the day.

For more details of the competition, visit www.coopertyrespromotions.co.uk.

FOXY Steph

To find out about other special motoring offers with women drivers in mind visit FOXY Lady Drivers Club.

A recent survey confirmed that 1 in 5 cars failed their first MOT in Britain.

That doesn’t surprise me as few motorists, female and male, seem to do regular maintenance or visit local garages as often as they might. Only recently my next door neighbour found she had run her ‘special’ 3 year old VW tyres flat and paid £400+ for a new set (after two years of not checking them at all). She was not a FOXY member then btw…

What concerns me most is the genuine possibility of existing MOT rules being slackened from a 3 year old first MOT test thence yearly (referred to as 3:1:1) to the EU model of a 4 year old first MOT test then biennial tests (referred to as 4:2:2).

Knowing that so few of us, women and men drivers alike, check our tyres regularly, let alone the performance of our brakes, or economic/environmental indicators like oil levels, this would be an all round bad thing in my opinion. I am seriously surprised that little seems to have been made of this whilst the UK’s back door seems still open to this EU approach…

Perhaps this is because those of us who trust others to know best (as many women do in a male-oriented and often female-unfriendly industry) will welcome a financial save of the test fee, £50.35, in tough economic times, without any thought to possible safety consequences…

I recall that the only EU country to do worse than us in this respect was Spain which could support the theory that if left a further year ie tested at 4 not 3 years old, more cars will be less safe and potentially more dangerous; never mind the added environmental considerations of all poorly maintained cars.

There is a sense that today’s cars are safer than they used to be and that young cars don’t need much servicing or maintenance. Certainly longer intervals between servicing means lower running costs to vital car fleet operators YET commonsense tells us that a poorly maintained car is inevitably less safe, less green, less reliable and less economic to run than one that has been loved, whatever its age.

Shameless FOXY plug – Realising this, what we do is encourage women driving cars [of all ages, women and cars ] to claim FREE green and safety car fitness checks as part of their membership; these check tyres, oil levels, lights, emissions, brake fluid levels and so on, working with Bosch Car Service across the country. For details see http://www.foxyladydrivers.com/freegreenchecks.php

There are now moves afoot to either progress this EU 4:2:2 route or park it once and for all.

Dear Gordon – please see the BIG picture here and support the 3:1:1 route for UK motorists and garage jobs alike – it’s dangerous enough out there as it is and the standard of MOT centres is better policed than ever before.

FOXY Steph