Check your car for flat tyres this Pancake Day

· Correct tyre pressures ensure your car’s safety systems can be effective

· Driving with under-inflated tyres is illegal, dangerous and uneconomical

· Unsure how to check tyre pressures? GEM’s short video will help

Pancake Day offers the perfect opportunity to check your car’s tyre pressures are correct. Serving flat pancakes is fine, but driving with a flat tyre is illegal, because it reduces your vehicle’s ability to grip the road and compromises handling, says GEM.

This can result in unpredictable vehicle behaviour, and increases the risk of a tyre blowout, where sudden rapid deflation occurs. You also risk causing serious damage to the tyre and to your car’s steering mechanism.

Despite the risks that go with a flat tyre, research from Tyresafe* suggests that more than half of the UK’s cars have underinflated tyres, leading to increased fuel consumption and reduced cornering and braking capability.

It takes only a few minutes to check the pressures on all your car’s tyres. This simple process helps to ensure the safety systems on your car will be as effective as possible.

GEM road safety adviser James Luckhurst says: “Pancakes should be flat, but tyres definitely should not. That’s why we’re encouraging drivers to check their tyres today (Tuesday 13 February) and monthly through the year.

“Correctly inflated tyres with good levels of tread allow all the other safety systems on a car to work effectively. In a sudden emergency this could be significant in determining the outcome and protecting those involved.

“Under-inflated tyres reduce your vehicle’s ability to grip the road, and also compromise handling. This can result in unpredictable vehicle behaviour, and increases the risk of a tyre blowout, where sudden rapid deflation occurs.

“So please don’t ignore your tyres. Before serving up a stack of flat pancakes, set aside five minutes today for a potentially life-saving tyre check.”

A short video from GEM explains where to find the correct pressures for your tyre, as well as why you shouldn’t check pressures at the end of a journey. There’s also simple guidance on how to carry out a pressure check safely.

*According to research by Tyresafe

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