You sure? I was always under the impression that there was a regulation like that.
We have no such regulation in this country. Periodic vehicle inspection makes this unnecessary. Most states require some kind of inspection in order to register your vehicles for road use, each year. Some states carry this too far and some are too lax. It balances out for the most part.
I "broke" a tire last winter, jumping a curb to avoid an accident. It was about six degrees Fahrenheit (overnight temperature, which is also negative fourteen Celsius, although it was a little warmer after sunrise.) and so it didn't just go flat, it fucking broke in half and I bought a new one. I have about seven hundred miles on it. That tire is essentially like-new, still.