Province wants winter tires made mandatory while travelling rural highways
 

Province wants winter tires made mandatory while travelling rural highways | News1130

Province wants winter tires made mandatory while travelling rural highways
7 News1130 by Dave White

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – One big element of the provincial government’s highways review could drain your wallet if you head into the Interior during the winter.

The province wants winter tires on all passenger vehicles from October 1st through the end of March on rural highways. The review says carrying chains is no longer good enough.

Bob Gilowski with VSA Highway Maintenance — the company that keeps the Coquihalla safe and clear — says even if it means hundreds of dollars spent on tires that end up rarely used, it’s worth the money.

“The positive aspect as opposed to allowing chains is that a winter tire is on all the time,” he points out. “People will typically put chains on their vehicles when encountering a very worse winter driving condition, then take them off. As driving conditions can change rapidly in high mountain passes, it’s always good to have traction.”

Gilowski adds despite a higher speed on the Coquihalla, you should always drive based on current conditions.

Chains are still acceptable for commercial vehicles.

BC will become the third jurisdiction in North America to require winter tires with the Mountain/Snowflake symbol, which is currently only law in Quebec and Oregon.

The provincial government says public consultation found more than two-thirds of rural winter drivers already put on winter tires.

I like the idea, but how would enforcement work?

I think they do random roadside checks like they do for breathalyzer testing:concentrate:

Ignoring the roadside checks, a law like this really comes into play where there is an insurance claim. If you have an accident, and you're not on legal winter tires, you're likely to have an unpleasant insurance experience.

-Dave

^ That's how it is now though, during the winter if ICBC determines you could of avoided the accident on the proper tires, they can assess fault as such.

They run checks on vehicles travelling interior highways during winter all the time, if you don't have winter tires or chains they tell you to get lost. After this is implemented they won't just tell you to get lost they will write you a fatass ticket as well.

If this becomes a thing the only thing it changes is that it finally gives the police the teeth to pursue something that is already mandated.

I also welcome this change. As there are a lot of idiots running around in the winter without the proper gear on their cars.



EDIT: Again I will gladly welcome all of these types of changes as it is finally a step in the right direction towards improving road safety. These types of items are the ones that reduce accidents, keeping the speed limits stagnant because of problems like these is NOT the way way to solve these problems.

Keeping speed limits low because people have inadequately outfitted vehicles is like paying off your credit cars with another credit card. You haven't really solved the problem now have you?

Coquihalla is sketchy in a winter storm on brand new high end snow tires, you'd have to be suicidal to try it on all seasons... Some people just don't care/think they're invincible i guess.

I have yet to see one of these roadblocks still... But i'm tired of running MT's, gonna be rocking Duratracs from now on so no need to worry. I'll just laugh as I put it in 4wd and blaaaast away.

You don't know sketch my friend. Sketch is hwy 16 in the middle of the night with a short wheel base pick up on 35" MT's, no weight in the back and lunchbox lockers front and rear. Oh, and it's a blizzard out and semis are passing you (actually Jamie Davis blew by me at one point haha), and it's a sheet of ice under the snow and you're making first tracks through it all.

No wait, more sketch is out on a logging road in the night. Road is rutted and icy as tits, you're coming down the backside of a hill with a sharp corner at the bottom and you lock up the front and have to gas it around the corner so the fronts pull you through the corner. All the while avoiding the cliff/gorge/steepness that is on the bad side of the corner...

DuraTracs are beast. You'll have fun on 'em.

Don't even get started, otherwise I will go dig up the idiotic posts you made on how "Only bad drivers need winter tires".

Go for it. It's all about understanding the equipment you have and what it can/can't do.

For those wondering, DuraTracs have the mountain snowflake, and as such are are considered a winter tire.

RCMP only runs them during peak travel times.. basically they don't want 1 idiot to jam up the traffic.. if you travel off peak hours, they care less if you spin into the embankment.

Remember 4wd gets you going.. you need winter tires to stop.

As for high end vs low end winter tires.. I think in real life they are quite simliar (notice all the damn ads are always comparing all seasons vs winter tires. I would contend the correct tire fitment ie go for thin and high profile and tire pressure makes a bigger difference than compound.

Nothing is more important with a tire than the composition of it. That's the whole reason winter tires work, the compound is designed to stay soft and grippy (super scientific word, i know) in cold weather, as well as good winter tires have a silica, or crushed walnut shell filled compound, which aids in traction. A lot of lower end tires don't have these crucial things.

Silica is just sand which is more pliable in low temperature. the tires with the winter mark already reach a certain level of traction. Surface area and downward pressure are more important in winter tires, as you want to minimize surface area so that the pressure can melt the snow. Compound sounds magical but they don't really do much other than noise reduction.

The secret sauce manufacturers don't tell you is how deep the winter compound is. Usually it is only the first 1/3 of the tread life.

My advice for winter tires is always go for the name brand eg CT/ Goodyear they are hella cheap when on sale. In smallest diameter possible, 17" is the sweet spot for cost and width.. and replace often. I rather get 2 sets of those, rather than 1 set of the priciest Michelin winter high performance tires (you rarely go more than 100kph when you are on the coq in winter in the snow) on 19s or 20s, which are pretty much standard on SUV these days. You double the mileage and have much better performance.

The only problem with this ruling is that winter tires become essentially unobtainable the first day that it snows.. everyone panics and the tire shops can't keep up.

The other problem is the amount of IDIOTS that think it's OK to run winters on the drive axle and crappy all seasons on the front. There's two such knuckleheads on the comments section of the news1130 article that I'm about to have it out with. Could use some backup.. lol.

Well it says from Oct 1 onwards. So unless you have no ability to plan a few days in advance I'd say you will be fine. This ruling does not deal with weather conditions, it deals with peak periods. On Oct 1 it is entirely possible that it is 20 degrees outside, but the law says you need winter tires.

To me the 1st seems kinda early, I normally don't swap over till closer to the end of October, but not really a big deal.

Studies by tire companies have shown that if you can only afford two winter tires they should always be placed on the rear axle, regardless of FWD or RWD. Oversteering is your biggest enemy, this helps prevent that.

EDIT: for the record you are correct though, all 4 tires should be winter tires, buying only two is pretty dumb.

Remember, this is designed for those who drive rural highways (5, 16, 97, etc), not the Lower Mainland. It snows a lot earlier up here than down on the coast, so if you're not already thinking about winter tires come the end of September, you greatly run the risk of being caught barefooted in October. It happened to me last year and I found myself driving in a snow storm down the Snow Shed while in a lowered car rocking summer tires...

And yeah, police already do spot checks periodically. They're usually at the base of a long hill where chains on trucks are typically mandatory, and usually only at either peak travel times or when there's already been an accident and a backlog has occurred.

Here I thought it was always mandatory for rural hwy's, good idea! imo it should be mandatory for the lower mainland too considering all the people who can't even handle the rain or a dusting of snow

an acquaintance had this exact situation happen to him he ended up crashing the semi but at least he's alive, also said he would have froze to death if there wasn't another semi about an hour or so behind him

I love winter tires. Until you've experience them in shitty conditions, you'd never know.

If you plan on keeping your vehicle for a few years, this shouldn't be an issue for anyone.