Tyre checking is child’s play
With the third UN Global Road Safety Week already under way, UK children have been reminding adults that keeping tyres in good condition helps reduce the chances of accidents and child causalities.
Using the tried and tested ‘TyreSafe 20p test’, kids have been showing parents how they can gauge whether their vehicle’s tyre tread depths are legal or not, a key factor in influencing its ability to stop.
Low or illegal tread depth (1.6mm is the UK’s legal limit) substantially increases the distance covered before a vehicle comes to a halt and, as a consequence, the likelihood of a collision with other road users or pedestrians.
UN Global Road Safety Week 2015 is using the #SaveKidsLives hashtag at events and online to highlight the 186,300 deaths of children under 18 on the world’s roads each year. Children are most vulnerable on the road as a pedestrian (38% of deaths) but the proportion of instances where the child is a passenger is almost as high (36%). TyreSafe continues to raise awareness in the UK on the implications of tyre safety for both pedestrians and motorists.
Six-year-old William Watts from Glasgow said, ‘We [children] learn about how to cross the road and that we need to be easily seen by drivers but we sometimes forget and that’s when it’s important that cars can stop quickly. If adults drove at the right speed and with good tyres they would make the roads safer for us. My mum and dad promised me they’ll keep doing the 20p test to make sure our tyres are always safe and legal.’
TyreSafe kids have been showing the adults how the 20p test is done properly for years, as you’ll see by visiting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgN6Lb9wMLg If mum and dad prefer to read about it, our quick guide is below or they can visit www.tyresafe.org
The 20p test
The law requires a minimum tread depth of 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the breadth of the tread and around the entire circumference of the tyre. Insert a 20p coin into the main tyre grooves at several places around the circumference of the tyre and across its width. If the outer band of the 20p coin is visible whenever you check the tread, your tread depth may be illegal and you should have them checked by a qualified tyre specialist – it’s so easy, even an adult can do it.
