Somewhere in this city, the driver of a black sedan is attempting to drive down a street. He might be going to work, he might be going to visit friends, he might be going shopping. He is, however, going sideways, as the black sedan in question is equipped with giant wheels and extremely low profile tires. This wheel and tire combination is not appropriate for a Canadian winter, as it is not actually possible to control a car equipped with those tires on a snowy street. The man in his black sedan has proved this quite comprehensively.
So why does he have these tires on these wheels? Short reason, he believes they look good. It's a trend, especially in other parts of the world where snow is less prevalent. The wheel and tire combination is expensive, and to a certain market it is the epitome of cool. That's fine in the summer, when such a combination isn't suddenly outright dangerous, but at the first snowfall he's more likely to discover that driving into a tree causes unfashionable dents which clash with his expensive rims.
Fashion, in his case, is going to wreck his car, it's inevitable. He needs to get to a business that sells tires, but that's somewhat difficult for him. There are many fine tire retailers in this city, but all of them were over a block away from where I spotted this ill-fated driver, and thus it will be very difficult for him to actually reach their business. I was kind of amazed he had made it as far down the road as he did, but I wasn't optimistic about his chances overall. He was completely unable to drive in a straight line.
That's the problem with fashion, what looks good might not be a wise proposition for a situation. Just as his tires rendered his car dangerous, fashionable shoes could have the same effect on pedestrians. After all, grip on ice isn't going to be a primary consideration when one is trying to make a fashionable pair of footwear. The best shoes in the winter, at least in my experience, tend to have thick, chunky soles that are the opposite of the rather delicate look that is most commonly associated with fashionable footwear. As a result, there will be just as many fashionable people falling down, possibly on their way to driving their car that can't make it down the street, a cavalcade of poor decisions leading to a great deal of unsafe practices.
So clearly we have to ignore fashion in this country, because it'll just result in our collective demise. Or, we should try to change the fashions, vote with our wallets to make a winter decisions all cool and hip. In some ways, we've managed it. SUVs are popular vehicles because they're big, but they also make a degree of sense because they're mostly four wheel drive. Fuzzy jackets tend to have their moment in the cold winter sun, and they're generally warm and sensible.
So now, somehow, we need to make thick boots and thick tires the cool and hip new thing. As someone who is not cool or hip, I'm not sure how we can manage this feat, though I've been purchasing sensible things for years it has had no measurable effect. It's still something that needs to be done, for the sake of the people who are becoming literal fashion victims, those who are driving into trees and falling on their behinds because of the things they believe look cool. Fashions should change for these unfortunate souls.
