road safety

Road trips are a way to explore new places, enjoy scenic views, and create lasting memories. Yet, as exciting as they are, road trips come with their own unique set of risks. Hence, you can take essential steps to stay safe and enjoy your travels with peace of mind by understanding these risks before hitting the open road.

TyreSafe, the UK’s tyre safety charity, is running its ‘Keep Your Tyres in Good ‘Elf’ campaign for a second year this December. The initiative features Santa’s elves performing a range of tyre checks and providing fun and engaging reminders about the importance of road safety during the festive period. In 2023, the ‘Keep Your Tyres in Good ‘Elf’ campaign appeared on bus backs, websites, and social media thanks to the participation of TyreSafe supporters. Winter driving poses heightened risks, from slippery surfaces to heavier vehicle loads. While light-hearted in approach, the campaign emphasises a critical message – road users must ACT on tyre safety.

Tyres are now featured within the ‘Safer Lives, Stronger Nation: The National Accident Prevention Strategy (NAPS) Report’. The report brings critical attention to vehicle defects as an overlooked cause of road collisions. Drivers already have a legal requirement to ensure the roadworthiness of their tyres. However, the large and increasing number of illegal tyres on the roads and MOT failures due to defective tyres suggests that too many do not give them adequate attention. Road safety organisation TyreSafe has called for greater recognition that defective tyres require more attention, and hails their inclusion in the report as a "pivotal change" in national road safety strategy.

A shocking new study suggests UK motorists are putting lives at risk due to an alarming lack of tyre safety knowledge. As the only point of contact with the road, checking and maintaining tyres is essential in ensuring the roadworthiness of the vehicle and optimising the safety of all road users. Yet fewer than a fifth (19 per cent) of those surveyed check their tyre tread depth every month, which is the recommended frequency.

As the winter months bring more challenging driving conditions like heavy rain, sleet, snow, and high winds, TyreSafe is launching the ‘Home Safely for Winter’ campaign. This new initiative calls on road users to ACT on tyre safety, a small but essential step that could mean the difference between arriving safely and facing hazardous incidents on the road. The campaign will compliment, support and coincide with Brake’s Road Safety Week, which runs from the 17-23 November. The campaign also reinforces the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC)’s initiatives which highlight the additional driving hazards present during the winter months. ‘Operation Dark Night’ and ‘Operation Limit’, running in November and December respectively, demonstrate the additional enforcement resources applied during the winter months to promote safer road use, including vehicle maintenance and driving standards.

WhatTyre has become a partner of TyreSafe. The consumer website is dedicated to helping drivers make informed decisions about tyre maintenance and replacement, so partnering with the leading UK organisation to extend its messages is a natural fit. As a sister publication to Tyres and Accessories and TyrePress, WhatTyre is uniquely positioned to reach a broad coalition of road users and the tyre suppliers that help them get from A to B. The reciprocal partnership will help ensure that crucial tyre safety information is disseminated effectively across the UK.

TyreSafe, the UK’s tyre safety organisation, is calling on drivers to "take charge" of their safety by conducting vital tyre checks while waiting for their batteries to charge. This crucial period, often filled with scrolling on phones, grabbing a sandwich, or dozing in the front seat, presents an opportunity that could be life-saving if used to ensure tyre safety. The A.C.T acronym—Air, Condition, Tread—provides simple yet effective guidance on checks that can be done without specialist equipment. By taking just a few minutes to inspect their tyres, drivers can significantly reduce the risk of accidents and breakdowns. 

TyreSafe, the UK’s leading advocate for tyre safety, is launching a new campaign targeting driving and car maintenance habits. Dubbed #DriveJanuary as a play on the health and wellbeing #DryJanuary campaign, TyreSafe wants drivers to make “a realistic commitment to road safety” part of their New Year’s resolutions, with monthly tyre checks at its core. The organisation frames tyre safety as a monthly routine in a bid to contribute to a safer road environment, creating lasting behavioural change among drivers. The TyreSafe 2023 Tread Depth Survey reveals that almost half the UK cars on the road have low or illegal tread.

An estimated 6 million tyres on the road have illegal tread, according to TyreSafe’s recent Tread Depth survey, meaning many drivers risk three penalty points and a fine, which can be up to a maximum of £2,500, for each defective or illegal tyre. As well as the risks posed by illegal tread on tyres, almost 542,287 drivers are just two tyres away from an automatic driving ban and almost 100,000 who have nine points are just a single tyre away, according to a recent IAM RoadSmart report. These numbers have risen recently – the number of drivers with nine points on their licence has risen 8 per cent in the last year – indicating an urgent need for drivers to pay closer attention to road safety both in their driving behaviour and attention to vehicle maintenance.