Check Your Tyre Pressure This Tyre Safety Month

Every October TyreSafe run a Tyre Safety Campaign designed to raise awareness of the importance of regularly checking your tyres. Tyre safety awareness could have a huge impact reducing the number of tyre-related accidents on our roads.

TyreSafe found that as many as 57% of tyres are being driven with the incorrect tyre pressure. Over or under-inflated tyres can affect your safety on the road so it is important that you get in to the habit of regularly checking your tyre pressure!

The Cost of Incorrectly Inflated Tyres

Did you know that driving a car with under or over-inflated tyres could actually cost you more money? In fact, TyreSafe have found that £600 million per year is wasted on fuel costs by British motorists driving with under-inflated tyres! Under-inflated tyres use more fuel as they require more energy to move effectively, which makes them consume more fuel than correctly inflated tyres!

In addition, both under and over-inflated tyres wear unevenly and more rapidly, which means that you will need to replace them sooner than correctly inflated tyres. When you drive on under-inflated tyres, there is more friction between the rubber and the surface of the road and this makes them more susceptible to damage and wear.

Safety Benefits of Correctly Inflated Tyres

As well as costing you more money, incorrectly inflated tyres cannot offer the handling and gripping capabilities they were designed to provide. When tyres are either over or under-inflated, the part of the tyre which makes contact with the road is reduced and this results in poor steering, braking, accelerating and cornering performance.

How to Check Your Tyre Pressures

You should check your tyre pressures every three weeks or before you set off on any long journeys. Simply find the recommended tyre pressure for your vehicle by looking in your vehicle handbook or inside the fuel cap. Visit a local petrol station and use the tyre pressure gauge facilities to check your pressure. If the number displayed does not match your recommended tyre pressure you should fill your tyres or allow air to escape as required.

PTA Garage Services are dedicated to tyre safety and will be offering FREE Tyre Checks for the whole of October. Contact your local branch to make an appointment.

Alternatively, take a look at our guides to tyre safety for further information on staying safe on the road.