Drive safely. And watch out for those lorries.
Fix the chip the day it happens. It costs the same as a tank of petrol. A fine, three points, and a potential insurance void costs a year of your life. is it illegal to drive with a cracked windscreen uk
You are driving down the M6. A lorry kicks up a pebble. Crack. A starburst suddenly blooms in your peripheral vision, right in the driver’s line of sight. Drive safely
If a crack is in Zone A but is only 10mm long (the size of a fingernail), it passes. The moment it hits 40mm, it is illegal to drive on a public road. However, if that same 10mm crack is directly in front of your face, causing a prism effect (splitting light into rainbows) that distorts the view of a traffic light? A traffic officer can still fine you under Construction and Use, even if it passes the MOT length test. Beyond the legal text, there is a physics problem. A windscreen is not just a plastic-coated window. In a modern car, the windscreen accounts for up to 30% of the vehicle’s structural rigidity . It is a crucial component of the crumple zone and ensures the roof doesn't collapse in a rollover. It costs the same as a tank of petrol
The safest legal advice is binary: