Tyre Regulations

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31985, 12 May 1969, Page 12

Tyre Regulations

Sir,—Your correspondent “M.” has read more into my previous letter on tyres than was intended to be there. For a start, I am “among the lesser privileged pedestrian peasants,” actually a cyclist. I have no car; nor any prospect of having one for at least several years. I agree that everyone has the right to buy a car, but he must be prepared to spend money to keep it in a safe condition. Slacker standards were all very well when there were fewer vehicles on the roads, but now that traffic is thicker, standards of safety must rise, and owners must be prepared to meet the cost. After all, noone would buy a house with unsafe stairs.—Yours, etc., JOSELYN DARLING. May 10, 1969.

Sir,—Your correspondents on new tyre regulations have not touched on the worst feature of these regulations. This is the right of traffic officers to prosecute a motorist using tyres less than l/16in tread, the same amount as the testing stations. When a motorist obtains a warrant that should say th .t his car is in order for six months average running this would amount to about l/32in tyre wear. It is under this amount of tread that traffic officers should operate. It is possible under present regulations for a motorist to obtain a warrant one day and be prosecuted the next day

if there are any variations in the gauges or through a slight oversight at the station. This is a bad aspect to this law and should be amended at once.—Yours, etc., FAIR’S FAIR. May 9, 1969.