Kwik Fit is Supporting Safer TRIPs with National Highways

During the winter months, colder weather conditions increasingly affect the journeys of motorists – whether it’s wetter roads, slippery surfaces due to falling leaves, or just the days getting darker on the journey home.

During autumn and winter, it’s important that you do all you can to ensure a stress-free journey, which is why we have teamed up with National Highways to support its safety campaign.

National Highways is responsible for operating, maintaining, and improving 4,500 miles of England's motorways and major A-roads, helping people get where they need to be safely and reliably.

Kwik Fit is thrilled to be supporting National Highways’ TRIP campaign – encouraging drivers to carry out their T-R-I-P checks before every journey.

What is TRIP?

To minimise and mitigate accidents and breakdowns caused by more traffic, fatigue, vehicle condition, and passenger distractions in cars, National Highways wants to encourage all road users to prepare for journeys in advance. So, they’ve developed a seasonal campaign that demonstrates to drivers how to prepare for long journeys in winter, during holiday periods and the festive season. 

This winter, when people are planning to visit their loved ones around the country, we want to encourage motorists to take some time to make sure their car is in the best condition before they drive off. Take time before your trip to familiarise yourself with TRIP:

Follow this checklist for a safe TRIP

• Top-up: Top up your fuel (or battery if it’s an electric vehicle), as well as your oil and screen-wash levels as needed.
• Rest: Plan 15-minute rest stops every 2 hours to reduce fatigue and stay focused.
• Inspect: Inspect your tyre pressure and tread. Driving with incorrectly inflated tyres – even as little as 10% below or above – makes your braking distance longer, your vehicle harder to steer, and shortens the lifespan of your tyres.
• Prepare: Prepare for all weather conditions. As the colder weather draws in, foggy mornings, and low-level sunlight at dawn and dusk can make driving challenging. Plan for early sunsets and adjust to the reduced daylight.

Seeing TRIP in action

We were keen to see how well the UK’s motorists were putting TRIP into practice on their road trips, especially when it came to inspecting their tyres before travelling. 

So, we recently visited the most popular Welcome Break Service stations in the UK to do some field research. During a busy half-term, we visited Birchanger Green, Oxford, and South Mimms — stations that typically see over 150,000 visitors each week! During our visits, our Kwik Fit mobile team checked 58 vehicles (that’s 232 tyres) to find that:

• 39% of tyres checked were under-inflated
• 19% of tyres checked were over-inflated
• Leaving just 41% of tyres checked at the correct pressure. 

We also found that 8% of tyres had an ‘amber’ tread depth of 2-3mm and 4% had a ‘red’ depth of less than 2mm. As a reminder, here, the legal limit for the minimum depth of the tread on your tyres is 1.6mm. However, for safety reasons, many manufacturers recommend replacing tyres when the tread depth goes below 3mm.

Look after your vehicle with Kwik Fit

For a greater understanding of tyre pressure and to feel safer on the road, Kwik Fit offers its customers free tyre safety checks. We encourage all drivers to make regular checks on their vehicles throughout the year, particularly so during the autumn and winter seasons.

If you have any concerns about your vehicle during the wetter months, you can book in for a free winter safety check at your local Kwik Fit centre where our team will help ensure your vehicle is roadworthy and in top condition.