It may come as a surprise to some, but the role that car tyres play in road safety is perhaps less obvious than one might think; especially when you consider that tyres keep the car in contact with the black stuff. Yet a recent study carried out by Goodyear Tyres both in the UK and Europe shows that whilst car tyres are clearly seen as having an important part to play in terms of road safety, many motorists are unsure of the best ways to go about the purchasing and maintenance of their car tyres.
In fact the survey showed that motorists believed that fitting the correct car tyres to their vehicle was second only to not drinking and driving in terms of its importance to road safety. However, well over three quarters of all respondents to the survey stated that car tyres should be in good condition and properly inflated as this was seen as being very important both to their own safety and that of other road users. So it’s fairly clear that motorists do understand the basics of safety in respect of their car tyres.
Unfortunately though, as this recent car tyres survey by Goodyear Tyres correctly points out, the fact that motorists are stating the obvious can be seen as the smallest part of what lies at heart of an important road safety issue. Because underlying this superficial understanding of car tyres there lurks a more deep seated problem. Simply put, it may be that drivers are not well informed about areas in which knowledge of car tyres is crucial and furthermore may not be capable of putting this knowledge into practice.
What the survey does suggest is that the link between the choice of car tyres and road safety may be misunderstood by many European drivers. To give just one example of the possible magnitude of this problem, one respondent in three to the survey admitted that they knew “little or nothing” about the way in which car tyres can influence their vehicle’s stopping distance or impact upon its grip on the road. This is despite a fairly significant campaign by manufacturers to communicate these benefits to the public.
On top of all this, whilst almost three quarters of all respondents said they knew the appropriate pressure for their car tyres under different driving conditions, roughly half did not know that the best time to check their tyre pressures is when they are cold. Worst of all, more than one respondent in three admitted that they would continue to drive as normal on worn car tyres. The implications of all this for safety on our roads are therefore extremely significant and it is clear that better driver education is urgently required.
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