Regional Road Safety Campaign will target defective and badly worn tyres

Published 18th April 2006

Defective and badly worn tyres will be the focus of a major regional road safety campaign during May in the North East of England. The campaign will draw attention to the important part that tyres play ensuring safe driving particularly in the wet.

The campaign is being fronted by the Tyre Industry Council - Britain's foremost tyre safety organisation - and has received support from the four regional police forces - Cleveland, Durham, Northumbria and North Yorkshire. The message being promoted is that worn illegal or badly worn tyres are a contributory factor in many accidents particularly when the roads are wet or damp.

Independent research has show that driving a vehicle with tyres with a tread depth below 3 mm increases the risk of an accident substantially. The AA Motoring Trust has said that stopping distances for cars with worn tyres are doubled and that worn tyres contribute to one in ten accidents on wet roads.

UK tyre law requires that tyres have a minimum of 1.6 mm of tread across the centre three quarters of the tyre. The TIC however recommends that for maximum safety tyres should be changed when they reach 3mm or below. During the tyre safety campaign in May local tyre dealers including ATS, National Tyres and Autocare and North Eastern Tyres are offering free tyre checks at their branches. Details of where these checks can be obtained are available by logging into the TIC website.

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