Survey of tyre dealers shows ‘woeful levels of disregard for tyre safety regulations’
Ahead of Road Safety Week, an analysis of tyres replaced at 12 tyre retailers nationwide has shown that a high number of vehicles on our roads are driving on defective tyres.
The survey was carried out by German premium tyre manufacturer, Continental Tyres, at 12 tyre retailers across Ireland during the month of August.
In almost all outlets, staff saw hundreds of tyres during the month that were below the legal tread depth limit of 1.6mm, tyres that were effectively bald and dangerous to drive on. Once a tyre has worn down to a level at or below the legal level of 1.6mm of tread, the tyre ceases to be safe and a vehicle with such tyres can become unroadworthy with seriously reduced stopping ability.
Tom Dennigan of Continental Tyres Ireland said: “Our survey of busy tyre retail outlets from across Ireland shows truly woeful levels of disregard for tyre safety regulations among a very significant proportion of Irish motorists. In more than half of the tyre outlets surveyed, 50 percent or more of the tyres they replaced were below the legal 1.6mm of tread depth. Just think, thousands of vehicles that were driving on the roads of Ireland just minutes beforehand were running on badly worn and seriously defective tyres. I would describe tyres like these as ticking time-bombs. Nobody knows ‘the when’ or ‘the where’ one of these tyres could have a failure and lead to a serious incident. For sure, it would not only be a disaster for the driver and occupants of the vehicle in question, but also for any other unsuspecting road user who just happened to be on the same road at the same time”.
A sample of the survey results shows the widespread nature of the problem:
Newbrook Tyres in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, found that 70 percent of tyres taken off customer vehicles were below the 1.6mm limit.
Loughrea Tyres in Co. Galway reported that 80 percent of the tyres they replaced were at or below the legal tread depth level.
Mr Dennigan commented: “In addition to highlighting how the very high incidence of motorists driving on defective and illegal tyres is a countrywide problem, our survey also showed a high number of examples of uneven wear on replaced tyres. This can be caused by too much or too little air in the tyre but is most often caused when the wheels on a vehicle are out of alignment. Every good tyre dealer will provide a free tyre check and as part of this, they will check for uneven wear on tyres. If motorists don’t want to look after their tyres themselves, a very good solution is to regularly stop by your local tyre dealer who will provide a free tyre check.”
Under the terms of the tyre safety penalty point regime, if stopped by a Garda, the owners of any of those vehicles with seriously worn tyres, that were at or below 1.6mm of tread depth, would have been facing a fixed charge notice of €80 and up to four penalty points if the matter goes to court.
Continental Tyres is advising motorists that, in order to stay on the right side of the law, it is very easy to carry out a quick tyre check and that this should be done on a regular basis. However, as our survey of replaced tyres shows, it is also advisable that motorists bring their car for inspection by a trained tyre fitter at regular intervals.
Safety organisations and many tyre manufacturers recommend that motorists should think of changing their tyres when the tread depth goes below 3mm as the tyre’s braking ability can be seriously compromised the closer it gets to the legal limit of 1.6mm.