With many families getting ready to travel this Christmas, I
had a timely reminder from an incident my sister was involved in on the
motorway recently.
A car in front of her suffered a tyre blow out at speed and
lost control, hitting another car before coming to a halt.
My sister was the first person to respond and was able to
call the emergency services and also attend to the drivers of both cars
involved. The woman, who had suffered the blow out, was shaken and very upset
that it appeared the other driver had been hurt by the impact. The other driver
was pacing around on the hard shoulder complaining of neck pain.
As a medical professional herself, my sister was trying to
persuade the man to remain still until the ambulance arrived but he was clearly
distressed. She also ensured the woman kept warm and was reassured until help
arrived.
With many due to set off on long journeys in heavily loaded
cars, it is important that tyres are in a suitable condition for the journey. The
blow out mentioned above, was almost certainly the result of under inflation of
the tyre due to air loss or a puncturing object and the resulting heat build up causing the tyre to fail.
Tyres should be checked for the following:
· Tread depth – at least the legal minimum of
1.6mm but ideally 3mm or more to ensure safe performance particularly in wet
conditions.
· Correct pressures - as per the manufacturers
recommendations (usually on a plate on the door pillar), with allowance for additional
passengers and luggage where there is usually an alternative set of pressures
to cover this.
· Condition – a visual check to ensure no obvious damage
i.e. cuts, bulges, exposed cords etc.
Safe motoring and have a great Christmas and New Year.
