Drivers fail to check their tyres

27 September 2023

Tyre manufacturer Bridgestone is urging motorists to check the condition of their tyres. The tyre giant said the “deflating” findings of its latest survey of 2,000 UK drivers reveal so many drivers are currently taking by failing to check the condition of their tyres regularly. The survey suggests that many drivers simply do not understand tyres’ impact on the safety of their car.

Among 2,000 drivers surveyed, 81% admitted to never checking their tyres and only 14% described them as the most important safety feature on their cars. The tyre being the only contact point between a vehicle and the road – and responsible for 159 deaths or serious injuries from defective tyres related accidents, according to official figures quoted in TyreSafe’s ‘Tyre Safety: the Case for Action’ document. The majority of motorists surveyed deemed tyres to be less important than airbags, despite tyres being used constantly as a safety-critical item that needs to be monitored. The results coincide with TyreSafe’s National Tyre Safety Month taking place throughout October, which aims to raise awareness about the benefits and importance of regular tyre checks.

Other headline statistics from Bridgestone’s research include 54% not knowing that driving on illegal tyres is an extremely dangerous act, only 31% of motorists admitting to being well informed on road safety matters and just 12% checking their tyre treads once a fortnight, the recommended interval between checks.

TyreSafe quotes figures of 4,596 total casualties from tyre-related incidents on roads in the past years, while there are an estimated 10 million illegal tyres on Britain’s roads each year.