A survey by mytyres.co.uk has found that a significant number of motorists are failing to carry out essential safety checks on their vehicles.
The survey of 1,126 motorists revealed that 24% have never checked their oil; 18% have never checked their spare tyre; 12% have never checked their tyre depth; 11% have never checked their lights; and 7% have never checked tyre air pressure.
A spokesperson from mytyres.co.uk said: “Checks such as tyre depth and inflation pressures are imperative for our own safety and that of other road users.
“UK law now requires tyres to be maintained correctly in terms of tread depth and carries the potential for a substantial fine or three penalty points if they are found to be short of legal requirements.”
The survey also found that it had been more than a month since the majority of motorists had checked their vehicle’s spare tyre (67%), oil (62%) and lights (42%). In contrast eight out of 10 motorists had their vehicle cleaned in the past month.
The spokesperson added: “It is clear that we take great pride in our vehicles, and that is not a bad thing at all.
“But we should not substitute safety in the process. Making these essential checks takes very little time – much less time than it would take to clean a vehicle – and they can ultimately save lives.”
Click here to read the full report.
Modern vehicles are much more reliable, weatherproof and better equipped – thank goodness. Service intervals are much longer, we no longer have to do an oil change and round of the greasing points every 1000 or 2000 miles. It is hardly surprising then that routine checks once seen as necessary on a daily and weekly basis are also left for much longer. This reflects technological advancements and is the same for most domestic appliances etc as well – a feature of modern life. I suspect many drivers never check these things between services. Perhaps we should review and update the advice we put out – how frequently do we really need to check tyre tread, condition, etc?
More technical info from the vehicle and tyre manufacturers, please?
Honor Byford, North Yorkshire
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Is this a side effect of just having a plastic box under the bonnet which can only be accessed by a mechanic? All the dirty loud mechanical bits are hidden away under layers of sound proofing and plastics so people forget about them and cars become just another appliance which someone else takes responsibility for…
Dave, Leeds
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