Vehicle defects lead to accidents
There are several factors that can cause a car accident. One of these factors is the tyres of a car. If they are properly maintained, the tyres can allow for a smooth journey.
However driving with badly maintained tyres can be illegal and if they are defected, they could lead to accidents on the road.
By law your tyres are required to have a minimum tread depth of 1.6mm in a continuous band around the centre three quarters of the tyre.
Once your tyre tread reaches around 2mm it is advisable to start thinking about replacing them in order to avoid the risk of causing a car accident.
The Department for Transport (DfT) urges all drivers to maintain their vehicles in good working order and to ensure that regular servicing takes place.
Even newer vehicles require maintenance with tyres needing to be inflated correctly and possibly replaced every 15-20,000 miles. Applying such principles can lead to
Further research from the insurance provider, Norwich Union has shown that up to one third of all accidents on the road are caused by or contributed to by some kind of vehicle defect.
Vehicle defects causing accidents
Statistics compiled by the DfT show that up to 3,000 injury related accidents occur each year due to defective vehicles with tyres being the number one cause. These figures can show a significant number of accident claims being made.
Additionally, defective brakes and lights (brake lights not working etc) are also primary causes of accidents on the road.
Specialist injury lawyers can help someone who has been injured in a road accident, to pursue a claim for injury although you may not need legal services in the event of your claim relating to property damage only.
Statistically, the most common injury on the road is whiplash.
Many car accidents are caused as a result of defects with the tyres. This can be when the tyres are either inflated too much or too little, and could cause a tyre-blow out.
A tyre blow-out is where your car tyre punctures and effectively explodes.
This will cause your car to unbalance and swerve off course. It takes extremely quick reactions to avoid a collision with either a vehicle or other object, such as a tree, if a tyre blow-out occurs. Tyres on a vehicle are also designed to grip to the road so having good tyre-tread is essential especially in wet conditions.
Tyre trouble
Vast volumes of water on the road's surface have to be squeezed out by the tread grooves when it is raining. For example, when travelling at 60mph and the water depth on the road is just 3mm, the tyre has to clear more than two gallons of water per second.
If this water is not rapidly dispersed a sheet of water may build up between the tyre and the road, causing the car to lose contact with the surface of the road and is forced to aquaplane.
The ability to disperse water is dramatically reduced when tyres are worn and statistics show that almost half of all car accidents are caused when a car skids. However, other factors such as driver impairment are just as likely to cause accidents.
Additionally if the braking system of a car is defected, it can lead to a need for an accident claim, stemming from a car accident. Motorists are warned that it is vital to make sure that the brakes are always working efficiently. There are many defects that concern your brakes including worn brake pads, leaking brake fluid and mechanism failure.
The state of your brake pads and the quantity of brake fluid should be checked regularly. Also, if you start feeling increased or decreased resistance when braking, book your car in to be checked over at a reputable garage.
Such defects could cause your brakes to fail at any time and brake failure when travelling at 70mph down a motorway, driving on a tram line or approaching a level crossing is likely to result in a fatal accident.
Updated on 18/09/2009