Tyres, Brakes & Lights

Tyre tread is what channels water away from underneath the tyre, so it can keep gripping the road instead of skating on a film of water. As tread wears down, that grip in wet weather drops sharply — which is exactly why the legal minimum exists.

Tread depth is only part of the picture:

• Pressure — check when the tyres are cold, using the figure from the vehicle handbook or the plate usually found on the driver's door sill or fuel-filler flap, not a number printed on the tyre itself. Under-inflated tyres wear unevenly, flex more, and can overheat; over-inflated tyres reduce the contact patch that actually grips the road.
• Condition — look for cuts, bulges, or lumps in the sidewall, and uneven wear across the tread, which can point to a pressure, alignment, or suspension problem rather than just age.

Braking involves the footbrake (which slows or stops the car while you're driving) and the handbrake / parking brake (which holds a stationary car in place, and can act as an emergency backup if the footbrake fails). Most modern cars also have an anti-lock braking system (ABS).

Without ABS, braking hard enough to lock the wheels makes a car skid in a straight line and stops you from steering around whatever you were braking for. ABS senses a wheel about to lock and rapidly releases and reapplies pressure to that wheel many times a second — faster than any driver could pump the pedal manually — so the tyres keep just enough grip to let you steer while still braking hard.

Every light on a car has a specific job, and using the right one at the right time is how other road users understand your intentions and how well you can see and be seen:

• Dipped headlights — for normal driving after dark, and whenever visibility is seriously reduced in daylight (heavy rain, fog); they light the road ahead without dazzling oncoming drivers.
• Main beam — extra range on unlit roads with no vehicle close ahead or oncoming; dip to headlights well before you'd dazzle another driver.
• Sidelights — a lower-intensity light, mainly used when parked in poor visibility or specific low-light situations rather than for driving after dark.
• Brake lights — activate automatically when you press the footbrake, warning traffic behind that you're slowing.
• Indicators — signal a turn or lane change in good time before you act, then cancel once it's done.
• Rear fog light — only for when visibility drops below around 100 metres; switch it off again once visibility improves, since its brightness can dazzle and mask your brake lights to drivers behind you in normal conditions.
• Hazard warning lights — all indicators flashing together, used when stopped somewhere that could be a danger to other traffic, or briefly to warn traffic behind of a sudden hazard ahead on a fast road.