Tyre Safety Month 2023: What You Need to Know

October is Tyre Safety Month, an annual month-long awareness campaign created by the road safety charity TyreSafe to make Britain’s drivers aware of the importance of tyre maintenance. As a TyreSafe member, we’re all too happy to back the cause!

Here’s everything you need to know about tyre safety to see you through October and beyond.

Why is Tyre Safety Month important?

Tyre safety is important year-round, regardless of awareness campaigns, because tyres are easily one of the most crucial elements of your vehicle alongside brakes. If your engine stops working, if your lights blow, if your windscreen wipers break, then you’ll be in trouble, certainly, but you can still slow down and get your car to safety quite quickly.

Without suitable brakes and tyres with enough tread depth, you can be in deep water very quickly. It becomes almost impossible to stop safely on any roads with inclines. But, assuming your brakes are working fine, the difference between worn tyres and tyres with enough tread depth is night and day.

What’s more, the most crucial thing to keep in mind with tread depth is that it isn’t about whether you’ll be able to stop or not but how much distance your car will travel before stopping. To put this into perspective, a car driving at 30mph in wet weather with 3mm of tread depth will take 35% more distance to stop compared to one with brand new tyres fitted. This increases almost exponentially when the tread depth gets below 3mm.

What’s even more, if you have a tyre on one side of your car that’s significantly more worn than the tyres on the other side, sudden braking can cause your car to spin around – creating a potentially catastrophic situation.

Findings from the new TyreSafe Survey

Throughout 2023, TyreSafe conducted a survey on hundreds of thousands of car and light commercial vehicle tyres to assess the current state of tyre conditions on Britain’s roads.

The findings are staggering.

A whopping 17% of tyres surveyed throughout 2023 were found to be below the minimum legal tread depth of 1.6mm. This is down from 27% in 2016 but the researchers believe the relative lack of driving throughout the Covid-19 pandemic is playing a large part in the reduction of tyre wear.

More importantly, 40% of studied tyres fell between the 2mm-1.6mm tread depth zone. This means that, combined, 57% of cars and light commercial vehicles on the road are being driven with dangerously low tread depth!

We always recommend tyres be replaced when under 3mm of tread depth because, below this point, they become significantly less effective at clearing water from the ground and maintaining grip on the road surface for stopping.

What you need to know to keep your tyres safe into winter

Our blog section has tons of really useful information on everything related to tyres (and, actually mostly anything to do with cars!).

The main thing you need to keep in mind is tread depth. The legal minimum is 1.6mm but, as we’ve said above, you should really consider replacing a tyre after the tread depth gets below 3mm. But it’s not just tread depth you should keep tabs on.

Going into autumn and winter, the roads get very wet and degraded – so it’s crucial to stay on top of tyre maintenance. Here are some great resources:

• How to check your tread depth using the 20p test
• How to keep an eye on and avoid tyre damage
• How to check tyre pressure and make sure it’s correct
• Everything you need to know about potholes
• Puncture repair information
• Everything you need to know about wheel balancing and alignment
• The difference between directional and asymmetric tyre tread patterns

Correct tyre pressure for safer driving & better performance

We - like TyreSafe - have always been really keen to emphasise the importance of correct tyre inflation. Not only does it result in an all-round safer driving experience, but also delivers significantly improved MPG (miles per gallon) — and it’s really easy to check.

When your tyres are properly inflated, you’ll find that your vehicle handles much better — meaning you’ll be safer when navigating corners, accelerating, and braking. Of course, this is important year-round, but undoubtedly all the more crucial in winter when roads are often wet and icy.

As for braking, multiple factors can affect your stopping distance, and the forces are working against you in the colder months. Inflating your tyres properly ensures they can work more effectively to bring you to a stop when you pump the brakes.

It’s worth noting that all of this also factors into your overall MPG (or your EV’s miles per KwH). Flat or over-inflated tyres mean your car has to work harder and, ultimately, use more fuel. You’d be amazed just how much of an impact tyre pressure can have on your fuel consumption!

Be sure to check your tyres’ recommended PSI using our tool.

Tyre safety with Kwik Fit

For anything else related to auto industry news, car maintenance, and general repair tips, head over to our blog.

If you’ve noticed that your tyres need replacing or you’re not sure if they do, get in touch with the experts at your local Kwik Fit centre for a free assessment.