As students head back to school this fall, they’ll spend plenty of time in vehicles. Whether it’s younger children being dropped off in school buses or in cars driven by their parents, teenage drivers hitting the road on their own for the first time or college students making the trek back to campus, proper vehicle maintenance is essential to driving safely. According to statistics collected by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, unsafe tires are the cause of more than a third of accidents. 

Tires can be the difference between life and death on the road; Alex Bebiak and his family know this reality firsthand. On Feb. 10, 2023, they received a phone call that no family wants to hear: their 19-year-old son Jackson had been in a car accident and was on life support at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. Jackson and his friends were on the way to the beach when a rainstorm caused the vehicle to hydroplane and collide with an 18-wheeler. Despite wearing a seat belt, airbags deploying and driving under the speed limit, Jackson–who was a passenger in the vehicle–still sustained severe injuries. He passed away Feb. 13, 2023.

Upon investigation it was discovered that the car’s tires had virtually no tread left, which contributed to causing the fatal accident. The Bebiaks were driven to action: they founded the Road Ready Foundation to educate young drivers about proper tire maintenance through programs like Change for Change and Tires for Teens.

“Jackson would have been a junior at Valdosta State University this fall,” says Bebiak. “We honor his memory by ensuring that other families have safe transportation as they travel to and from school.” 

To prepare for the back-to-school commute, the Road Ready Foundation has compiled some tips to keep motorists and passengers of all ages safe on the road. 

Look Before You Drive

Before you hit the road, be sure to give your tires a cursory inspection for general wear and tear, cracks or bulges. Police officers can cite drivers for unsafe tire conditions, potentially adding to the expense of a traffic stop. 

Spare Some Change to Save Lives

The Road Ready Foundation’s Change for Change program emphasizes that a penny can be a lifesaver. To see if a tire passes the penny test, insert a penny into the groove between the tire treads. If the top of Abraham Lincoln’s head is visible, the tires are too worn to drive safely. 

Know Your Tire Pressure

When the seasons change, tire pressure can shift as well. When in doubt as to whether a tire is low, pull out a tire pressure gauge and check to see if your tire pressure matches the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendations. If you can’t find your car’s manual, you can find that information inside the driver’s side door. 

Always Carry a Tire Inflator

If your tires are low, you’ll need to reinflate them. Add a tire inflator (like Airmoto) to your car’s emergency kit alongside the tire gauge: they can be powered by the car’s auxiliary power outlet or a rechargeable battery. These can help you get to a repair shop safely if your low tires are caused by a leak. This also spares you the struggle of finding coins for the air machine at a gas station (save those coins to use for the penny test!). 

Rotate the Tires

Rotating the position of the tires helps the tread wear more evenly and maximizes their lifespan. It also allows drivers to inspect them for damage. It’s recommended that this be done every 5,000 miles, which lines up perfectly with most vehicles’ oil change schedules. Many places will change oil and rotate tires at the same time while also doing an inspection of other vehicle systems. 

Rotating tires can be a DIY project: for front wheel drive vehicles, the front cross rotation pattern is recommended. The front tires move to the back and the rear tires move diagonally to the front. By rotating your own tires, you’ll use the same skills you need to remove and change a flat tire.

Replace Worn Tires

Many drivers put off tire replacement due to cost, but with unsafe tires causing a large percentage of accidents this can prove to be ill-advised. Bebiak regularly speaks to motorists to emphasize the price tag on their lives versus the price tag of the tires. “Your life is worth much more than $1,000,” says Bebiak.

In addition to speaking to teens, the Road Ready Foundation has a presence at Atlanta-area car shows like Caffeine and Octane to educate vehicle enthusiasts on tire safety.