Vehicle safety charity TyreSafe has announced the release of a new informative video that aims to highlight the dangers of aquaplaning to road users up and down the country.

Launched on the organisation's YouTube channel, TyreSafe has created a short film and animation depicting what can happen when vehicle owners fail to regularly maintain their tyres and they are faced with bad weather – a situation that is becoming increasingly likely now the autumn is here.

When excessive wear takes place, tyres can lose their ability to efficiently remove standing water from the surface of the road. This, in turn, means that when the vehicle runs over wet ground there is an increased risk that the contact patch between the tyre and the road will become flooded and the vehicle will aquaplane.

In these cases, handling becomes unresponsive and the driver effectively becomes a passenger, with little to no control over the direction of the vehicle until the tyres come back into contact with the road.

Stuart Jackson, chairman of TyreSafe, commented: "Not only are braking, cornering and acceleration all affected by low tread depth, but in heavy rain, there's a real risk of aquaplaning which could cause you to lose control of your vehicle, placing yourself, your passengers and other road users at an increased risk of being involved in an accident."

The legal minimum tread depth in the UK is 1.6 mm and to check if tyres are safe and legal for use, TyreSafe advises motorists to insert a 20p piece into the grooves of the tyre and if the outer rim of the coin can be seen, then it is likely the tyre will need replacing.

"Our latest movie and animation illustrate perfectly why it's so important to regularly check your tyre tread depth at this time of year," Mr Jackson concluded.