Driving with worn tyres could impact your driving even more than drinking alcohol

04 January 2023

Research commissioned by Halfords found that cars with worn tyres at the legal limit of 1.6mm tread depth could increase the braking distance of a vehicle by a third, compared with cars which have tyres in ‘good condition’ of over 4mm tread depth.  

This means that driving with worn tyres in winter conditions could be even more dangerous than drink driving which, according to the same study, increases reaction time by 18% or 120 milliseconds.

Halfords CEO Graham Stapleton commented that these results demonstrate that the current legal limit for tyre tread depth – which has not been updated since 1986 - is too low.

In 2021, Halfords issued tread depth advisory notes (meaning that their tyres’ tread depth was almost at the limit, but technically still legal) to more than 100,000 drivers who chose to continue driving with their current tyres, rather than replacing them.

Conductor of the research, Professor Peter Wells of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff University said, “Braking distances are an indicator of general levels of grip. So, if worn tyres increase braking distances by a third, we can reasonably assume that general levels of grip in the tyres are reduced by this amount too. Therefore, worn tyres will also have a significant impact on car control on the road in other situations, such as cornering.”

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