Snow tires? Life-changing!
By Lynne Bell
Sometimes, I approach writing this column with caution and restraint. Although it's meant to be a lighthearted-and hopefully, entertaining read-Kelly and I are often put in the position of defending or disagreeing with a point of view that is not in alignment with our true feelings on the topic(s) in question. And even though there's a disclaimer in print that states; “The views expressed in 'Seeing Things Differently' are for discussion purposes and are not necessarily the views of the writers,” I still find myself hedging my bets on the side of caution, with one eye on future Google searches. (I know, I know, I flatter myself...)
However, I have come up with a topic this week that I am passionate about: snow tires.
They are, in my humble opinion, life-changing (yes, really!) and although I sometimes strongly disagree with too much government regulation, I think we should all have 'em. And I also don't think it's out of line to legally require drivers to have them installed on their vehicles during the winter months in most parts of this country.
Currently, Quebec is the only province in Canada where drivers are required by law to have winter tires installed on their vehicles (between December 15 and March 15 every year).
I won't bore you with statistics, but let's just say that this legal requirement has not made anyone a less-safe driver on La Belle Province's winter roads.
And now that I've spared you potentially boring stats, dear reader, I will bore you with my personal experience driving with proper winter tires. In Calgary, I slid around for years, white-knuckling it with all-season tires on slippery city streets. When I finally converted to snow tires, the difference-and stopping distance-was amazing.
Think of snow tires as winter boots for your vehicle. Would you go out for a winter stroll on icy, snowy roads with a pair of summer sandals? I thought not. Snow tires are the automotive equivalent of wearing a great pair of winter boots, complete with grips. They'll get you where you need to go-safely and with much less stress.
A safety check is already required to licence a vehicle in this province and inspection tickets are handed out for all kinds of things-including relatively trivial stuff such as window tint. Snow tires are comparable to seatbelts, as far as enhancing safety. Not only will they lessen your chance of an accident, your winter driving experience will be, well, life-changing.
Take my word for it.
Before legislating look to educating
By Kelly Running
The other day Lynne came into my office quite excited. She had something she felt very strongly about and wanted to address it in this week’s pro/con discussion: winter tires.
Obviously she wanted to argue for them being legislated into having to have, so I laughed, and said I’d take her on in the debate.
So, should it be legislated that winter tires be mandatory? Well, no. Winter tires are an extreme cost, yes they do grip better, it’s what they’re made for, but a good set of all-season tires and an alert driver behind the wheel is all it really takes.
Back when I was first learning to drive, in fact it was when I had my learner’s licence, dad would toss me the keys and tell me I was driving. Whether it was good weather, muddy grid roads (without much gravel where we lived), or snowy/icy roads, I got the keys. Dad’s a great teacher and I learned how to drive on ice and snow to the point that if I start fishtailing in my truck while driving I keep calm and get back on point. Moving between neutral and drive is second nature while stopping in icy/snowy conditions.
So, instead of forcing a costly thing like winter tires on us, which have to be changed before the first snowfall and taken off in the spring, and have to be replaced after they’ve been worn out, why not teach Canadian driving lessons instead. Find a place to drive on ice, have people actually learn in a safe environment how to handle a vehicle and correct it if something goes wrong.
The end of the year comes with bills rolling in and gifts to be bought, it’s not a time to be looking at a costly legislated item forced upon you.
I’m told winter tires are an amazing thing, which they probably are and I’ve talked about getting them, but I have good all-season tires and am confident in being able to handle my vehicle on the road.
Quebec was the first province where snow tires were made into being mandatory. They must be on your vehicle from Dec. 15, to March 15 of the following year. Some of B.C. has followed suit. But, people who are nervous drivers can become overconfident with winter tires on. They don’t make you invincible on snow and ice, and a winter driving school may be more beneficial than forcing people to get winter tires.
By creating winter driving classes instead, we educate people, and after they know what they’re doing it’ll stick with them throughout their life. It would be a onetime cost to vehicle owners, which in rural areas is pretty much everyone 16-years-old and up, and not a cost you continually have to be budgeting for.
Lessons would be on avoiding sudden braking, travelling with more distance between you and the vehicle in front of you than usual, and signalling earlier to let people know your intentions so they don’t come up quickly from somewhere expecting you to be doing something when you planned something else.
All in all, winter tires are an awesome idea to purchase once the leaves start falling and the temperatures drop, but should the government really be able to force you into buying them?
