By the time their child is 20, parents are likely to have spent over 3,000 hours driving them around – that’s 125 days non-stop motoring.
Parents can clock up over 30 miles a week driving their children to different clubs and hobbies or 1,500 miles a year, almost the same as driving from Land’s End to John O’Groats and back. And it’s not just them clocking up the miles, it’s their tyres too.
While it’s the driver’s responsibility to check them and keep them in good condition worryingly, more than one in four parents may be driving with illegal or poorly maintained tyres*. The Home Safely on Safe Tyres campaign highlights the importance of tyres in minimising the risks to drivers and their young passengers while on the roads. It also emphasises to all drivers entrusted with child care that it is their responsibility to check the condition of their car’s tyres.
With the message You might be up for driving them there – but are your tyres? the posters, leaflets and animation advise how drivers can carry out general tyre maintenance themselves.
Alternatively, drivers can ask a tyre professional to ensure their tyres’ air pressure, condition and tread depth are safe and legal. These materials will be distributed across relevant supporter facilities with further partnership enquiries welcome to theteam@tyresafe.org
Stuart Jackson, Chairman of TyreSafe, said: “Taking children to the activities they love, from Guiding or Scout organisations, to football and swimming, and everything in between, is an almost daily occurrence for most parents. It’s vital that parents all remember the car tyres are the only part of the car in contact with the road, which makes their maintenance essential.
Whether you are a parent, grandparent or guardian, checking your tyres once a month is the minimum that can be done to make sure we get them home safely on safe tyres.”
Children can clock up around three hours a week in the car with their parents and around 96 hours per year with grandparents at the wheel. That mounts up to 197 days by the time they’re 20. Let’s make sure whoever is behind the wheel thinks Child Care – Tyre Care.
TyreSafe’s ‘Child Care – Tyre Care’ campaign is aimed at all those who drive with children on board. Children can clock up around three hours a week in the car with their parents** and around 96 hours per year with grandparents at the wheel***. Friends, childminders and guardians may also be regularly transporting kids of all ages to nursery, school, clubs, parties and other activities. Worryingly, more than one in four carers may be driving with illegal or poorly maintained tyres*.
The Home Safely on Safe Tyres campaign highlights the importance of tyres in keeping drivers and their young passengers safe while on the roads. It also emphasises to all drivers entrusted with child care that it is their responsibility to check the condition of their car’s tyres. With the message ‘Child care – Tyre care’ the posters, leaflets and animation advise how drivers can carry out general tyre maintenance themselves.
Alternatively, drivers can ask a tyre professional to ensure their tyres’ air pressure, condition and tread depth are safe and legal. Stuart Jackson, Chairman of TyreSafe, said: “With child care responsibilities spread among different people, many of whom will be driving their young charges to and fro, it’s important that everyone in that care network regularly makes sure their car’s tyres are safe. “Car tyres are the only part of the car in contact with the road, which makes their maintenance essential for road safety. Whether you are a parent, grandparent or guardian, checking your tyres once a month is crucial for keeping yourself and your passengers safe on the road.
Let’s make sure we get them home safely on safe tyres.”
Around 700,000 new babies will make their first journey home from hospital this year but more than one in four may travel home on illegal or dangerous tyres. With this shocking statistic in mind, TyreSafe is encouraging all new mums-to-be to add CHECK TYRES to their pre-birth checklist.
CALLING MUMS-TO-BE: PUT SAFE TYRES ON YOUR BIRTHING CHECKLIST
To ensure the most important return journey that parents will ever make – the trip to and from hospital, before and after the arrival of a new baby – is as safe as possible, it’s vital to carry out a series of tyre safety checks. While pregnant women may not be able to carry out the checks themselves, TyreSafe is urging mums-to-be to ask a partner or local TyreSafe retailer to ensure their tyres’ air pressure, condition and tread depth are safe and legal.
Pregnant Janine McCarthy, 25, knows only too well about the dangers of defective tyres. She is supporting the ‘Home safely on safe tyres’ campaign so that others do not have to face what she went through.
Janine had a miraculous escape after a defective tyre on her car rapidly deflated, causing her vehicle to spin out of control and crash into the central reservation on a busy motorway near her home. The car flipped six times before coming to a standstill.
She said: “I remember the back wheels of the car skidding so I applied the brake gently, but as I did this, the car skidded right round out of control. “I could see on-coming traffic and I panicked, braking harder. It caused the car to tip and start to roll and smash into the central metal fencing. It was terrifying. Witnesses told me afterwards that the car smashed into the barrier, flew to the opposite barrier, and then rolled down into the middle of a field. “I recall my arms being crossed in front of my face and the airbag going off. I felt dizzy and remember thinking ‘this is it’. “When the car came to a standstill I laughed out of shock that I was ok. I was petrified that something had happened to my baby; I was nearly three months pregnant at the time and had been waiting for my first scan. “The emergency services told me they couldn’t believe I had walked away from the crash alive.”
Janine was taken by ambulance to hospital for checks and an emergency scan. Thankfully she escaped the ordeal with just minor cuts and bruises – and her unborn baby was fine. She added: “I feel so lucky to be alive and the relief of seeing my first baby on screen wriggling around was simply amazing. TyreSafe’s campaign is so important and I want everyone to act on the message ‘Home safely on safe tyres’. I was lucky, but defective and illegal tyres can ruin lives.
As new mums-to-be, we pack our hospital bags with everything we need and check our baby car seats – but we need to add CHECK TYRES to our birthing checklist. “There is nothing more important than getting our new-born babies home safely.”
