Should Winter Tires be the Law?
New Laws February 29th. 2008, 7:55amAs recently reported by The National Post, Quebec is considering the creation of a law that would make getting winter tires on your car mandatory. Transport Minister Julie Boulet has said she is considering the new law, which was put forward by the province’s opposition party Parti Quebecois. While 90 percent of Quebec’s drivers already have snow tires for their cars, it is estimated that 500,000 cars are still using all-season tires, according to Transport Quebec.
If the law is enacted, Quebec will become the first province to enforce winter tires, and will see Canada join the ranks of Sweden and Finland who enforce the law on a national level. While some areas of mountainous B.C. have winter tire laws, they are not regulated by the province itself.
While winter tires save drivers time and money, and outperform all-season tires in temperatures lower than -15 degrees Celsius, the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) has not expressed total enthusiasm about the prospect of the new law citing that drivers may leave their winter tires on all year.
Jordan W. Charness, a lawyer who writes for Canadiandriver.com, had also expressed doubts about such laws in his opinion piece. While he acknowledges that winter tires are clearly safer than all-season tires for driving in snow, he doesn’t believe they should be mandatory, stating that the reduction of accidents would not be significant and that routine driving in urban areas doesn’t require the full use of winter tires as say driving far into the country would. To briefly summarize Mr. Charness, a law making winter tires mandatory would be difficult or redundant for the following reasons:
- Winter tires can be very expensive and cheaper brands may not be that much of an improvement over all-season tires.
- Such a law would need extensive resources for police to administer verification that the tires are installed.
- Most accidents are caused by bad driving, not bad tires.
- Road safety in the winter is more dependent on the clearing of roads after heavy snowfall than it is on tire traction.
- If winter tires are made mandatory, the law would also have to prevent tire companies from marking products as “winter” while their treads may not be that different from all-season makes.
As traffic law experts, we here at Legal Action are keenly interested in seeing how this new law plays out and if it will inspire Ontario’s politicians to follow suit. You can be sure that we will be following these stories closely.
September 29th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Here in BC, batches of shallow-minded individuals are on another political campaign to make winter tires” law”. As with other knee-jerk reactions; they feel it will make roads safer in winter. Trust me, as a transportation worker, it will not. More drivers will venture out on snow covered roads, believing they are safer with snow tires, when it is the skill of the driver that actually matters. Crash! Young drivers, who often follow the example of other drivers, will believe they can drive on ice covered roads the same way they do in summer. Crash! Cars and trucks wrecked on every ice and snow covered corner. Snow tires do nothing to help slow down in poor conditions. Drivers most often get into trouble by their own actions, not the condition of the road, or vehicle equipment. Once they have had an accident, they blame everyone and anything, except their own behaviour. This starts at the accident and goes on into court. So, if you want more (not less) accidents in winter, just ensure that drivers believe they can drive any way they want with “snow” tires. This does not mean winter-rated tires do not have a purpose, individual drivers may need the extra traction, but most really do not and will only get a sense of false security by using them. If this were not true, we would already have a lot less accidents on our roads. After all, snow tires are not illegal.
November 29th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Well i do agree with you on your post here and that it is not the tires that makes the car but the driver. I have been all around ontario on all seasons in some of the worst conditions ever with no major problems. First off slow down, get off the celly and doing your makeup or eating breakfast and pay attention to what is in front of you. I also think there should be a new training for ABS that has thrown people off from the old brakes that lock up. I also had an older rear wheel drive car and always put weight in the trunk and oh yes ran all seasons. I worked in toronto for the past 10 years and never been in accident nor had problems. You are so right that people are going to get these tires on and think all is better like 4×4 drivers got 4 wheels i am invincable i can go anywhere and still go fast. Well i hope they do not pass this law but make smarter drivers who can learn to slow down and let the car sink back to the pavement and keep distance that is the key thing in the winter.