5 ms·
This is somewhat true where I’m at in Canada. In the city, half the people have proper winter tires, the other half “wing it” with whatever they can afford/put-
by softfalcon 2y ago
This is somewhat true where I’m at in Canada. In the city, half the people have proper winter tires, the other half “wing it” with whatever they can afford/put-up-with.
Regularly see accidents all winter long from goofs sliding straight across multiple lanes of traffic or going off into the ditch. Only some of us are prepared.
We don’t salt, only drop sand grit and gravel sparingly. Our roads become ice rinks or snow piles for a decent portion of the winter.
Your comment about us being “better equipped” made me chuckle as I spent this morning watching my neighbours play slip-and-slide in the cul-de-sac cause they opted to not put their winter tires on.
As someone who grew up in the mountains, their behaviour is downright dangerous in my opinion.
- kube-system 2y ago> opted to not put their winter tires on. Heh. At least they have them, and/or know what they are. I have been met with "they make tires just for snow?" when talking about snow tires in the US before.
- softfalcon 2y agoHah! Yup! Heard that one before from Californians, Texans, New Yorkers, and Arizonans in my travels. Ignorance can be the death of ya! Thank goodness most of them aren’t trying to drive up here!
- eep_social 2y agoCA, TX, AZ yeah, yeah, yeah but hang on.. New Yorkers!? I hope these are the ones who live in NYC without a car.. otherwise that’s completely insane. Upstate NY gets tons of snow. Buffalo famously so.
- ElevenLathe 2y agoI've lived in Michigan most of my life and only people in the remotest places have snow tires. City folk just use the same all-weather radials all year round and maybe keep some chains in the trunk for emergencies.
- olyjohn 2y agoHonestly, tire tech has come a long way even in the last 10 years. Some current 3 peak rated all seasons can outperform some of yesterdays best snow tires.
- softfalcon 2y agoMichigan is similar to parts of Canada. All-seasons that are rated for snow are pretty common here too. Then there is every doofus in a Suburban skidding around like a kid on a 2-ton toboggan rocking summer tires as they tell everyone, "my truck is heavy, it pushes down THROUGH the snow!" Some people refuse to even buy an all-season even when they know it exists.
- buildsjets 2y agoNobody lives upstate, relatively speaking. New York State’s population is 19.5M. 8M live within NYC limits. Another 8m live on Long Island and 2M in the counties just west of NYC. So around 1.5M for all the upstate areas combined compared to 18M in the metro area.
- kemotep 2y agoI think you are double counting Queens and Brooklyn in that estimate of Long Island because between the Metro areas of just Buffalo and Rochester is over 2 million people not counting places like Syracuse and Albany. Yes, New York like most States is full of dozens and dozens of counties with less than 10,000 people but they add up and while the city proper of Buffalo is like 1/10th a single Borough in population, it too has suburbs and exurbs. Even the area around Fort Drum is just over 100k people.
- SoftTalker 2y agoThe average driver today knows shockingly little about their car. It's an appliance. They put gas in it, take it to the dealer for service when the message comes up saying service is due, and that's about it. Checking tire pressures, tread wear, brake wear, oil and other fluid levels, or opening the hood for any reason is not something they ever think about. They make their payments and trade when the warranty expires. It's an appliance.
- dgfitz 2y agoThat's amusing to me. My spouse and I fix all our appliances, cars included.
- s1artibartfast 2y agoThe sentiment resonates with me. I'm the only person under 50 I know that changes their own oil, let alone performs other routine maintenance like air filters and break pads.
- potato3732842 2y ago>yeah but hang on.. New Yorkers! New England too. At best only a minority of people use snow tires here. Which should beg the question if these things are as magical as the internet cheerleaders say they are then why doesn't everyone in these sorts of states have them.
- HeyLaughingBoy 2y agoWinter tires are one of those things that are very poorly marketed for some reason. Magical? No, but very, very good. I drive a RWD car through Minnesota winters and I was completely blown away by the difference the first time I got a set of winter tires. That said, you really only notice the difference if the roads haven't been plowed yet.
- xboxnolifes 2y agoBecause if you believe you can get by without them, why shell out the money? And you generally can get by without them if you live relatively close to an urban area.
- bigstrat2003 2y agoIt would be weird if someone in upstate NY hadn't heard of snow tires, but it's not insane to not use them. I spent most of my life in Wisconsin (obviously a place with lots of snow and ice), and frankly snow tires just aren't necessary in most winter driving scenarios. All seasons will do you just fine 95% of the time, and for the other 5% you should consider chains instead of snow tires anyways. Or of course don't go out, which is the actual best option most of the time. Almost nobody back home has snow tires because they just aren't worth it.
- wbl 2y agoCalifornians? I'd be curious to know what parts of the state they are driving in because I cannot imagine living in CA with a car and not going to the pretty places.
- brewdad 2y agoI'd imagine most Californians are using chains or other traction devices rather than snow tires. Snow tires would be awful in the Bay Area or pretty much any of the state's main cities.
- Maultasche 2y agoAs a Californian living in the central valley, where we never get snow, I had never heard of snow tires until I lived in Germany, where seemingly everyone had them in winter. Nobody around here has them or even sells them. When we go up into the mountains in winter, either the roads are cleared and we can drive on them with normal tires, or it's snowing heavily and we put snow chains on the tires and drive slowly. I've only had to use snow chains a couple times in my life because I generally only go into the mountains when it's not currently snowing, which is most of the time. Climate change has made the climate drier here, the mountains get a lot less snow than they used to. It also helps that real winter with snow storms only lasts about 3 months.
- rchard2scout 2y agoThe reason everyone in Germany has snow tires is because their use is mandatory in winter conditions, punishable by fines and points on your license.
- softfalcon 2y agoIt's the same for Canada if you choose to drive any of the mountain highways passes. The cops will fine you if they catch you without a "mountain-snowflake" graded tire.
- brewdad 2y agoNot sure when snow tires became more mainstream but I started driving in Michigan in the late 80s and didn't know a single family that used snow tires. Where I live now snow tires only make sense for those who live in or visit the mountains regularly. The valleys are mostly at or above temps where snow tires wear quickly or become less effective on wet surfaces.
- devilbunny 2y agoI live in the southeastern US. I am aware that winter tires exist, but you simply can't buy them here off the rack. You have to order them. For our "snow", which happens once every 2-3 years, you don't even need them. In an ice storm, you just stay off the roads for two days. The heat from the sun is sufficient to melt it even if the air temperature never gets above freezing. What you need here are tires that can handle huge amounts of rain. Which, in the western US, is not an issue.
- grecy 2y agoIn (most?all?) of BC winter tires are required by law, and salting the roads is illegal due to the horrific damage the run off does to the environment.
- DCH3416 2y agoYou mean to tell me dumping literal truck loads of salt into the water table is a bad thing? Why does everything that works well have terrible consequences.
- bobthepanda 2y agoIt also tends to corrode any sort of metal in the structures that it’s on, which also contributes to poor road quality from the article. And it corrodes the cars traveling on it as well.
- brewdad 2y agoDoes BC allow chains instead of winter tires? Oregon does for cars and light trucks. WA seems to be more of a free for all but also tends to completely shut down their passes more often than Oregon does.
- grecy 2y agoI think so, but nobody uses them other than people exploring remote in unplowed places. On regular roads theyre too inconvenient and make you go too slow. Slap on quality winter tires in November and you’re good to go with no more effort.
- citrusybread 2y agoin ottawa, and most of ontario, they lay down so much road salt you would think they're trying to brine the pavement... it's disgusting, i wish we'd follow the leads of AB & BC.
- aceofspades19 2y agoThis is not true, winter tires are only mandated on some highways. Winter tires are not required by law throughout the entire lower mainland which is where most of the BC population is.
- tonyarkles 2y ago> goofs Can confirm, definitely Canadian! We just had a massive first snow dump in Regina here. 15-20cm in 24h. It's treacherous out there, I was in 4HI all morning trying to get around.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- bongodongobob 2y agoI've lived in WI 40+ years and winter tires are a waste of money. Unless you're in the mountains somewhere or going off-road, they're just an extra thing to buy.
- bluGill 2y agoVery much so - WI and other northern states know how to clear their roads. While you will need to slow down a little more while it is snowing it doesn't really matter because someone else will not have winter tires and so force you to slow down to that speed even if you have them. And even if you have them they are better than summer tires, but they are not that much better, you still need to slow down on ice. Winter tires are very important in places where they get bad weather but don't clear the roads. Those are not generally places people live though.
- AngryData 2y agoEhh, I almost never use winter tires but I still disagree. Some people are simply not good or attentive enough drivers for me to believe they will be fine without winter tires.
- thworp 2y agoAre you driving around with actual summer tires (not all-season or all-weather)? By winter tires do you mean winter tires or studded? If you do mean summer tires that seems almost unbelievable to me. I have some experience both on the roads as well as skidpans with both. With actual summer tires on even non-icy light snow cover you: - have almost no braking - get nothing but wheelspin on any sort of hill - start spinning out in corners if you go >10mph. The worse the winter weather gets, the more stuck you become if there has been no salting for an hour. Meanwhile with winter tires you can safely go up to 60mph on compacted snow and actually get to a stop within a mile. Hell, even just the fact that summer tires are hard as rocks in cold temps would make me wanna at least buy all-seasons. Just how aggressively and how often do they salt in WI, considering the climate? disclaimer: grew up in a country with mild-ish winters where winter tires are mandatory, never spent much time in the parts of NA that do get winters.
- yxhuvud 2y agoWait, Canada don't have regulations about having winter tires of some kind? Wow, that is odd.
- softfalcon 2y agoThe main highway going East-West (Trans-Canada 1) requires you to put on snow tires during the winter. I think it might only be an Alberta, BC provincial thing though.
- kube-system 2y agoCanada is a federal state like the US, and it similarly delegates much of the power to regulate driving to the provinces.
- rikthevik 2y agoBritish Columbia mandates winter tires on highways going through the mountains, and chains for trucks. I wish other provinces would put in similar mandates, because it's a bit of a clown show on the roads right now in Saskatchewan.
- jcadam 2y agoWinter tires are not cheap. I'm in Alaska and recently paid $1400 for a new set of studded winter tires for my F-150. And the tires I chose were one of the lower cost options available. So I totally understand why folks who can barely afford to put gas in their car are driving around on all-seasons year round (and ending up in the ditch frequently).
- pbmonster 2y ago> $1400 for a new set of studded winter tires for my F-150 The F-150 and maybe the studs play the biggest role here. I kept it below $400 for my small hatchback, even though I went for Conti (but it was before COVID).
- jcadam 2y agoStuds added about $150 (for the set) vs the price for the studless version of the same tire. Truck tires are definitely more expensive than those for passenger cars, though.