Do you know the tyre safety facts?
Or are you one of the four motorists surveyed recently that were found to have an illegal tyre on their car?
If your tyres are illegal due to DRIVER neglect (unintentional neglect is more often the case), these are the possible consequences. They are ALL serious.
1 You could cause an accident, injuring others in the process.
2 Your insurance cover could be invalid.
3 You can face a fine of up to £2,500 per illegal tyre.
4 You risk three penalty points for each illegal tyre.
There are no excuses here. The driver is responsible. Even if she did think her husband, partner or Dad had checked her tyres for her.
And the first consequence would be VERY hard to live with when you discovered your tyres weren’t as safe as they could be.
So here’s what to do…
Check Your Tyre Tread Levels
In law your tyres should have a minimum tread depth of 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the breadth of the tread and around the entire circumference of the tyre.
FOXY advice: Just because 1.6mm is the law doesn’t mean it’s good enough, especially in the wet. For example, when your tyre tread is 3mm, your tyre is 78% worn. When your tyre tread is 2mm your tyre is approximately 94% worn. Look at the chart above, please think about this and where in doubt, ask the professionals…
To check if your tyres are legal, just take the 20p test.
1/ Park the car with the front wheels turned so you can easily see the tread.
2/ Take a 20p coin and insert it into the main tyre grooves at several places around the circumference of the tyre and across its width. If the outer band of the 20p coin is visible whenever you check the tread, your tread depth may be illegal and you should have them checked by a qualified tyre specialist.
Check your air pressure levels
Are your car tyres pressured correctly (for the car and passenger load)? Check with your car’s owners’ manual or the sticker in the fuel flap or the inside edge of the drivers door.
FOXY advice: Too much pressure is as bad as too little as it affects the handling of your car and therefore your ability to control it when you need to most. Do this monthly, as a weekend chore. If you don’t, you could be using more fuel than necessary as well as increasing wear and tear. A local FOXY Lady Approved garage and/or tyre centre (see links below) will show you how to do this of course.
Check the condition of your tyres
Drivers are advised to look out for signs of irregular wear or damage such as cuts, lumps or bulges.
If you don’t, you risk driving with a defective tyre which could let you down at speed and deflate quickly. And instead of paying for a puncture repair, you’ll need an expensive new tyre or set of tyres – they should be the same on each axle.
FOXY advice: Get into the habit of always walking around your car before you get in it, just checking the look of your tyres. Try not to ‘kerb’ them when parking as this causes wear and a significant knock could damage alloys and the tyre fitting too. If a tyre looks suspect in any way, either check it yourself then, or get it checked at a good FOXY Lady Approved garage or tyre centre without delay (see below for links).
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FOXY Tyre Safety Month Campaign
In an attempt to raise awareness levels among women drivers, FOXY Lady Drivers Club is adding its support to the TyreSafe campaign by encouraging ALL women drivers to get their car tyres checked by FOXY Lady Approved Tyre Professionals during October.
Dubbed Tyre Safety Month because October is usually the wettest one of the year, FOXY will be working with its network of FOXY Lady Approved garages and tyre centres to reward women who are driving cars with LEGAL tyres.
After having them checked, and been given the OK, they will receive a free online gift membership of the Club, worth £24 were they to buy this via the website.
You can check to see which tyre centres are listed on our female friendly Tyre Services Register.
You can see which garages are part of the FOXY Lady Approved ‘service and repair’ network.
You can check to see which garages and car dealerships are organising Tyre Safety events for women.