Tires are the only contact between the road and your vehicle, and therefore maintaining proper tire pressure is absolutely important to a vehicle owner and should never be taken lightly.

Despite its importance, many people conveniently ignore tire maintenance for one reason or the other.

Here's some useful facts and information:

* The result of a survey done by the Rubber Manufacturer Association (RMA) shows that while about 70% of the drivers wash their vehicles at least once a month, only a mere 15% of the population of drivers regularly check their tire pressure within that interval.

* Survey results showed that approximately 80% of the vehicles on the road routinely have at least one underinflated tire.

* Another survey result reflected that >50% wrongly believed that the correct tire pressure is listed on the side wall of their tire (the correct information can be found on either the door jamb or vehicle user manual and is vehicle specific and not tire specific).

* The Insurance Industry Associate estimated that a total of USD600 million in unnecessary damages could have been prevented in year 2005 alone if drivers had simply paid attention to their tire pressure, and the federal government estimated that about 660 fatalities and 33,000 injuries occur on a yearly basis attributed to low tire pressure related accidents.

These facts clearly highlighted that maintaining the proper tire pressure is of critical importance. Failure to do so on a consistent basis subject your tires to faster wear and tear, potential tire blowout, with the possibility of resulting in serious injuries or even fatalities - situations that you really want to avoid.

Conversely, having the right tire pressure is important for:

1. The safe handling of your vehicle.

2. More even wear and tear for your tires and therefore the longevity of the lives of your tires.

3. Fuel economy of your car.

Apart from the paramount importance of safety issue, just by simply paying attention to maintaining your tire pressure could mean more money in your pocket for the fact that your tires last longer and you save more on your fuel cost.

Some studies has showed that, depending on the extend of underinflation, every 10 psi (pound per square inch) drop in tire pressure could reduce your fuel economy by as much as 1 percent. This is because underinflated tires have bigger surface of areas of contact with the ground and thus requires more effort and therefore consumes more energy to move the vehicle forward.

So, the question is: Since we know that having the right tire pressure is so important both in terms of safety and fuel economy, why aren't many of us doing it on a regular basis? Well, many might say they forgot or do not have the time to do it and some might even reveal their ignorance on the importance of tire maintenance.

The thing here is this, if you fall into the trap of being penny wise on your time and effort on proper tire maintenance, you are subjecting your tires to more rapid wear and tear, thus compromising the safe handling of your vehicle. Also, improperly maintained (usually underinflation, which is a more common problem as compared to overinflation) tires often always mean wasting fuel unnecessarily, which is not exactly a wise thing to do, given the high fuel cost now.

So, the bottom line is: Stop being penny wise on your time and effort now and start to check your tire pressure regularly if you want to save more money by covering more distance with the same amount of fuel.

Don't be fuelish, drive safe.