Tyres not roadworthy bigger cause of accidents than prev thought

Zubeneschamali

carzony wrote: »

The bulb issue is a very simple issue to solve with a proper advertising campaign and enforcmement.

Enforcement is the issue, not advertising.

If people were hit with €100 every time they had a bad bulb, they wouldn't need advertising to tell them to change it.

I drove a car for two years with the NCT cert and disc in the glove box. No-one ever asked me about it.

GM228

biko wrote: »

Interesting, it's not on the current list
http://www.rsa.ie/Documents/Licensed%20Drivers/Penalty%20Points%20Chart1.pdf


Most/all EU countries have 1.6mm, I'm pretty sure it's EU law and therefore Irish law.

There is no specific points for bald tyres, however they can be issued under the driving a dangerous/defective vehicle heading and the Gardaí have been known to seize vehicles with bald tyres (and rightly so) under the same offence.

https://twitter.com/GardaTraffic/status/709389018564317184


Yes it's EU and Irish law, it applies accross the entire EU and has done so since 1991. The EU does not allow member states set higher minimum depths, 1.6mm is the minimum accross Europe.

Many may not realise though that minimum tyre depth regulations only apply to the central three quarters of a tyres surface, there is no minimum standard depth for the rest of the tyre, in other words the outer edges 12.5% on each side can be as bald as you like once there is no tear, bulge, ply or cord exposed!

EU countries can however set lower limits for vintage vehicles and it interesting to note that pre 1931 vehicles here only require a minimum 1mm on the condition they "are used in exceptional conditions and are never, or hardly ever, used on public roads". Never or hardly ever is a bit contradictory!

power pants

pablo128 wrote: »

Seriously. Why do you think you can buy some tyres much cheaper than others? Do you genuinely think all tyres are the same? It certainly comes across that way.

Seriously. to be competitive, to enter the market and sell more against the more established brands. seriously

R.O.R

power pants wrote: »

Seriously. to be competitive, to enter the market and sell more against the more established brands. seriously

Nothing to do with lower quality materials?

Ferris

I use this site for comparing tyres:

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/

Highly subjective and unscientific but there is an undeniable trend towards cheap Chinese sh1te tyres getting poor ratings.

Apart from the safety concerns I do not understand why people put up with the inevitable understeer / noise / lack of feel that crap / worn tyres provide, all for the equivalent of a few cents a day. I changed unworn accelera's on the front of my last car to goodyears and the driving experience was transformed, along with the ability of the car to react to an emergency driver input.

whiskeyman

Being in a motoring forum, I'd odds on most (all?) here will check their tyres.
I check mine regularly enough, but got a fair warning last year on the importance.

I knew the wear was going down, so decided to replace all 4.
The very next day, a cyclist crossed the road in front of me (thought they had green pedestrian light... they didn't) and I was doing 50kph.
I had to do an emergancy brake and I stopped literally at their tyres as they froze like a rabbit in headlights.
I've no doubt that without those new tyres and the extra grip it gave, she would have probably been a goner and many lives would have been destroyed that day.

wil

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I always thought this was a penalty point offense already too. Saw a taxi today with completely bald slicks, lethal.

I thought that too until I checked a few weeks back. I have a feeling it was announced as such in the media during one round of RSA announcements but maybe that's as far as it went officially.

TBH there are loads of offences, actually a majority so rarely enforced I'd say it's only if found after an accident or inspection in conjunction with another "serious" offence.

"Driving a vehicle when unfit "- surely that's an incentive to get on your bike;)

Charles Babbage

Some aspects of motoring are not that obvious to the general public, but tyres are something that anyone can easily check any day of the week. Tyres represent a very minor part of the cost of motoring when compared to insurance, fuel and depreciation. There is no excuse.

It would be good if someone could invent a video gadget that you just put on the ground and which flags dodgy tyres driven over it, then this could be placed at checkpoints and all that was required was to slow people to 10kph driving over it. Obvious if the thing went beep a Garda could investigate further.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

07Lapierre

VeVeX wrote: »

Minimum legal thread depth in Germany is 1.6mm.

Peddlers of part worn tyres often say the legal limit in Germany is 4mm to add some logic to their sales pitch whereby the crazy Germans bin perfectly good tyres.

Winter tyres need to be replaced at 4mm.

pablo128

power pants wrote: »

Seriously. to be competitive, to enter the market and sell more against the more established brands. seriously

OK. Can you explain to me then why Garda cars only have premium brands fitted to them?

joujoujou

Because they spend taxpayer's money for them.

Special Circumstances

Ferris wrote: »

I use this site for comparing tyres:

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/

I changed unworn accelera's on the front of my last car to goodyears and the driving experience was transformed, along with the ability of the car to react to an emergency driver input.

Accelera alphas? Shocking yokes. Had to dump a set that came on a used car. I hope they weren't sold on as part worn to some sucker. If they were then I don't want to meet him in the wet!

wil

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Do they carry the E mark?

Might be worth stickying the link
http://www.rsa.ie/en/RSA/Your-Vehicle/About-your-Vehicle/Example-of-non-Dup/Your-Vehicles-Tyres-/Choosing-a-Tyre/

I suspect driving on bald tyres is a good indication of a generally lax attitude to road safety along with poor brakes etc. As it is easy to visually inspect and detect it is probably a good way of detecting vehicles with multiple safety issues.

The quality and safety of tyres available to purchase should be the subject of legal standards and enforcement.

ectoraige

joujoujou wrote: »

No more "speed kills" BS?

What a surprise. :cool:

They didn't say excessive speed is no longer a major contributing factor to road traffic accidents causing deaths. They identified poor tyre condition to be a contributing factor to road traffic accidents.

If there was a single cause of deaths, it would be easy to solve.

wil

ectoraige wrote: »

They didn't say excessive speed is no longer a major contributing factor to road traffic accidents causing deaths. They identified poor tyre condition to be a contributing factor to road traffic accidents.

If there was a single cause of deaths, it would be easy to solve.

Unfortunately the media / people and dare I say it AGS seem to focus on singular issues. Important adjectives such as "excessive" or "inappropriate" ignored.

New offences are announced, singularly targeted for a few weeks, then ignored and eventually forgotten. Only something that has a machine and can be measured remain on the radar, pun intended. Hence "driving in excess of the speed limit" and driving with excess alcohol and of course the mainstay of checkpoints - car tax.
I have seen too many serious driving offences go unnoticed for reasons unknown to me.

SCOOP 64

I've just looked at my tyres to see the make purchase about 3 yrs ago (new) , the make Triangles,
i have never noticed anything bad about them, they do have the E mark. so surely must pass some sort of quality testing ?

Zubeneschamali

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

they do have the E mark. so surely must pass some sort of quality testing ?

Yes, they are legal. No-one has said Triangles or ling-longs are illegal - we just wish the tests were stricter and these brands had to up their game. 30% longer stopping distance is no joke.

power pants

pablo128 wrote: »

OK. Can you explain to me then why Garda cars only have premium brands fitted to them?

they use dunlop or goodyears

it's their choice. Im not dictating what people should put on their cars. I think some respect would go along way when someone has a differing opinion on here.

visual

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

I've just looked at my tyres to see the make purchase about 3 yrs ago (new) , the make Triangles,
i have never noticed anything bad about them, they do have the E mark. so surely must pass some sort of quality testing ?

They are road legal but that is it.
Bought my current car with triangle tyres all round, drove fine in dry but was woeful on wet road.

Zubeneschamali

power pants wrote: »

Im not dictating what people should put on their cars. I think some respect would go along way when someone has a differing opinion on here.

If I came on here and said I'm grand to drive up to five or six pints, people would not respect that opinion, because it is wrong.

Triangles are unsafe. Tests prove it. The regulations should be tightened.

power pants

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

If I came on here and said I'm grand to drive up to five or six pints, people would not respect that opinion, because it is wrong.

Triangles are unsafe. Tests prove it. The regulations should be tightened.

You are not making any sense now

drink driving is illegal, cheaper tyres are not.

frozenfrozen

Many years ago drink driving was not as regulated as it is today. Power pants what people are trying to say is that tyres should become more regulated, to try make the roads safer. The same reason you can't drink a few pints and drive home anymore.

Zubeneschamali

power pants wrote: »

drink driving is illegal, cheaper tyres are not.

Yes, but why?

ABS, airbags and seatbelts are mandatory. You can't choose to buy a new car and save money by unticking these lifesaving features. Why can you fit dangerous tyres?

pa990

I think the RSA are referring to tyres with bulges, baldness, incorrect pressure, incorrect size etc rather than ditch finders.

It took years upon years to adjust the irish psyche about drink driving.
I think they'll have a harder battle with their battle with tyres.

Is it true that in Germany you can only have a certain brand/model/size of tyre on your car.
(Well the choice of 3 or 4)
And that if you are involved in an accident you will be more liable if you had an unapproved tyre.


(On another note..... why don't we ever get second hand ditch finders from Germany ?)

Zubeneschamali

pa990 wrote: »

I think they'll have a harder battle with their battle with tyres.

New cars have loads of safety features that people would not pay extra for if they had a choice. People thought seatbelts would trap them in a fire, they thought airbags would go off and cause crashes, they still think they can brake and steer better without ABS...

Pass a feckin EU rule, job done, same as the other improvements which have slashed deaths on the road.

Alun

pa990 wrote: »

Is it true that in Germany you can only have a certain brand/model/size of tyre on your car.

No, but I think you are restricted to the specs as noted in your Fahrzeugschein (log book), i.e. size, speed and load ratings. No deciding to put different sized tyres on for the craic, or because they're cheaper.

wil

pa990 wrote: »

I think the RSA are referring to tyres with bulges, baldness, incorrect pressure, incorrect size etc rather than ditch finders.

It took years upon years to adjust the irish psyche about drink driving.
I think they'll have a harder battle with their battle with tyres.

Drink driving very different to bald tyres, tyres don't sober up or require breath test and are relatively easily detected just by inspection and are present regardless of who drives.

Quite easy to tighten the rules on tyres over a few years via the NCT..
They are already advising re old tyres and failing bad tyres. Over 4 years most inferior tyres could be eliminated if drivers were required to replace full sets, then manufacturers would stop selling them.

pablo128

power pants wrote: »

they use dunlop or goodyears

it's their choice. Im not dictating what people should put on their cars. I think some respect would go along way when someone has a differing opinion on here.

You dont have a different opinion, you have shown you have very little knowledge regarding vehicle tyres. I happen to to know a lot about them.

Garda cars use a premium brand of tyre because they offer more grip in the wet and dry. Otherwise they wouldn't bother. The Garda driving the car into a tyre centre doesn't get to choose the tyre. The car gets an already agreed brand and size.

peking97

So when (at what tread depth) do you guys recommend changing tyres?
I wouldn't like to go too close to the 1.6 mm limit!