11/01/2026
Under inflated, Cracked, perished, bald tyres are fatal.
Apologies in advance for the grim picture - given the tyre incident the other day, I think it's prudent to raise awareness on tyre safety because sometimes it takes something like this to shock people into action.
In 2018, I'd stopped to help a driver on the M42 between J2 and J1 that had been involved in a collision. Whilst on the hard shoulder, a car aquaplaned from lane three, across all lanes and straight into me, taking my leg clean off there and then.
The main cause of this was because the person who hit me had defective tyres - they were bald and under inflated which meant that she aquaplaned on surface water.
When a vehicle doesn't have sufficient tread, there is nowhere for the water to go which means that the tyres lose contact with the road surface as there is no way of dispersing the water. This leads to the tyres effectively gliding over the water, with driver losing all control of the vehicle and being unable to steer, brake or accelerate.
The legal limit for tyres in the UK is 1.6mm of tread over the middle three quarters of the tyre. This can be measured with a 20 pence coin by placing it between the the tread grooves on the tyre - if you can't see the outer band of the coin, your tyres are above the legal limit.
As well as checking the tread depth, you should also make sure that the pressure matches the manufacturers specifications. These can be found on a label inside one of the doors or fuel cap, along with the vehicles manual and tyre manufacturers website. It's important to remember that the required tyre pressure will vary depending on how loaded your vehicle is which will also be detailed on the aforementioned items.
You should check the condition of all tyres to ensure that there are no bulges or any other damage. Tyres are in constant contact with the road which inevitably leads to wear and tear. If you have a spare tyre, the condition of that should also be regularly checked to prevent you getting stranded if you need to use it.
If you're caught with defective tyres, you can expect to receive a fine of up to £2500 and 3 points on your licence for each illegal tyre.
The statistics on defective tyres in the UK make for a sobering read - 1 in 4 drivers have never checked their tyres and only 39% of UK drivers know that the legal limit is 1.6mm.
In the last 5 years alone, 153 people have been killed or seriously injured in incidents relating to defective tyres - something that could've been avoided had tyres been correctly maintained and kept safe.
Tyres are your single point of contact with the road - it's critical that they are kept in a safe condition. It's not only your life at risk, it's others too.
Please take a moment to check your tyres and make it a regular habit. The TyreSafe website has a number of informative guides on keeping your tyres safe and well maintained which can be found here - https://www.tyresafe.org/tyre-advice/
