Whether you’re a biker or just use a car for work, there are rules and regulations surrounding motoring that we should all be aware of, but many of us have forgotten.

When was the last time you check your wiper fluid? What about the oil? I’ve spoken to numerous drivers in the last few months, and an alarming number of people seem to think they can leave that to getting their annual service on the car carried out.

In extreme cases, drivers have been fined or even given penalty points on their licence for things a lot of us would consider menial. However the law is law, so even if the most likely outcome is that you’ll be told to top it up as soon as possible, having no water in the water bottle could potentially land you in deep, well…. water!

A more serious oversight is tyres. These are what separates your vehicle from the tarmac, and are responsible for your steering, acceleration, brakes and suspension all working as expected. There are three general things you should be checking regularly – firstly that there’s no visible damage, caused by impacts like kerbs or collisions with debris on the road

The second thing is tread depth. You’ll be given the reading at your most recent service/MOT test, but tread will reduce as you drive so you should be checking it regularly. The legal requirement is for 1.6mm of tread across the width of each tyre to remain legal, which is approximately the same as the border of a 20p coin.

Finally, you need to keep the pressures of the tyres to the required level. You can do this on a petrol station forecourt when you fill up with petrol, or alternatively invest in a portable compressor like you’ll find at this website.

It goes without saying that the failure of a tyre could cause catastrophic results – imagine losing control at 70mph on a motorway. We’ve all seen the TV shows with drivers gettin pulled over with bald tyres. It’s dangerous to the occupants of the car, but also to everyone around them. Worse still, those drivers are also more likely to be the kind of people who drive at 90mph in rain in heavy traffic – you can imagine too how long it would take them to stop – probably further than the car in front in an emergency situation.

We need those kinds of people off the road, so make sure you’re not one of them. It takes just a few minutes to check your wheels over to make sure they’re legal, inspect the tread and pump them up if required. Hardly a big effort and it could save your life too.

During the summer what could be better than feeling the open air as you hit the road? Nothing quite comes close to riding a motorbike for that feeling. If you have a drivers license for a car you may think that there is no way you can ride a motorbike on the roads without passing a different test. Not to worry as you are perfectly entitled to legally ride 125cc motorbikes which may be a bit small but are still great fun to ride.

These bikes are generally a lot cheaper than their bigger counterparts and are much cheaper to repair. They make a perfect alternative to being stuck in a car during the heat of summer and have the added bonus that they are easy to navigate around traffic jams. Chances are you just won’t be caught in one riding a bike as you can nip in and out of other cars on the road.

If you want to spend a little bit more money you could always get your motorbike upgraded. Have a quick look on the internet at custom motorcycles to get an idea of the things you can do to bikes. Cost can be an issue but if it isn’t, then your imagination is the limit. Chrome wheels, wacky paint jobs and even engine modifications are all brilliant ways of making your bike more personal to you. Modifying an engine is very complicated but the extra power that can be squeezed out of a finely tuned engine is astounding, like riding a rocket if the right things are done. Simple extras such as a sports air filter make a huge difference as well as the more expensive jobs such as having your engine head ported and flowed.

To conclude, get yourself a motorbike if only for the summer months. You will have an amazing time riding around and won’t look back!