Winter

As I sit here, tucked up in my warm house, watching the outside world disappear under a blanket of snow, I read stories about travel chaos. Shock, horror!
This happens every Winter.
Jackknifed lorries, stranded cars, accidents etc. Motorways turned into skating rinks.

I ask why is it that we are, I believe, the only country in northern Europe where a change to Winter tyres is not mandatory?

Winter tyres are more effective when we have temp below about 6-10 degrees, not just in snow.

Personal experience has convinced me that Winter tyres are essential. I wouldn't get out of my village if there was snow or ice on the road without them. In fact I struggled to even get off my sloping drive onto the public road with Summer tyres if there was half an inch of snow down!

I know all the logistical problems of storage and additional costs to the car owner but surely the costs to the public purse, the deaths and injuries, the delays etc etc must outweigh those personal costs!
That doesn't even factor in the cost of salt gritting, and the associated rusty damage to vehicles and deterioration of the roads and general environmental impact.

They should make 4x4s compulsory.

mgtfbluestreak wrote: They should make 4x4s compulsory.

They already seem to be compulsory outside our village school. All year round. Perish the thought that Chlamydia and Jonquil may have to walk a quarter of a mile on a dirty pavement.

I don't think a blanket compulsory requirement is the answer: it's already impossible to enforce insurance, tax, MoT etc, all legally compulsory, so good luck with getting such waste-of-Oxygen folk to comply with having two sets of legal tyres let alone one. Good driving education and enforcement may be the answer: our Grandaughter passed her test in the summer: has a little Fiesta and is at the start of her driving real life learning curve. First flurry of snow: 'Grandad, how do I drive on snow?, they never taught me that'

Maybe an answer is possibly a tyre compound and block pattern that is a compromise?

Around 2000, I had a brand new V6 2.5 Ford Cougar, now much maligned but IMO a brilliant motor. Came with a set of Ford winter wheels and tyres: thinner tread to bite through snow and ice etc. Worked well in snow and ice, mucho sideways and oppo lock action (e.g. Clarkson demonstrating'handling') when conditions cleared up.

Just my thoughts. Our lovely isle has many weather zones: much snow reported North and South, here in Leics I've been tidying the garden...... In a polo shirt. That's me, not the garden.

I am so sorry to say that IMHO the number one reason for chaos on the roads is the generally pathetic capability of the very vast majority of drivers!!

In my time as a driver, I have always prided myself on almost finite levels of car control! Possibly that is because of several years in various forms of competition, but well in excess of 1,500,000 road miles of totally accident free miles, during which time I never fitted winter or M&S tyres, despite having been faced with driving through some utterly atrocious road conditions that brought the vast majority of the Country to a standstill.

For me, even now, whenever I start driving/owning a different vehicle, be that a Series Land Rover, Discovery, LWB Renault Master van, BMW 1 Series, MGF, whatever, I always go out and explore the limits of adhesion for the particular vehicle. I do this so as to discover how it reacts to hitting the brakes hard when cornering, or lifting off the throttle when at speed in a sharp corner etc. etc. Only then can I confidently go out onto our grossly overcrowded highways and known how to avoid the next IDIOT having a crash.

I have several friends who used to be special high speed pursuit traffic cops and each and every one of them is appalled at the standard of driving these days!

Still amazes me on the amount of people driving with 1 headlight..or in the case of a BMW last weekend ....he had 2 working fog lights on front..no headlights or tail lights....The mini aproaching me tonight...BMW type..on a narrow country lane had such bright lights I flashed my high beam thinking he had his on.....and then you get it...the return high beam flash lights so bright they could light up a football match on a foggy night.....The kids out there walking lanes dressed in black which are difficult to see....the woman walking a horse in the road on a dark evening..leading it with a rope with its ears in the air.looking like its just about to mount your car...her high viz looking like it had been worn down a coal mine for years...The guy coming out of the plume of feathers tonight...dare I say it again..in a BMW estate...possibly had a drink or 2...swerved out in the road to avoid parked cars on the pavement which were not even on the road...waited at a junction and sat there untill someone came..then he pulled out..braking sharply every now and again.....Potholes so deep you could go pot holing in them....hidden by snow and puddles....And crappy budget tyres that are on the market that will help you crash in the wet...drivers who insist on thrusting there doors open has you aproch them...mind you going back to when i passed my test ...the streets were not has packed with cars has they are now...which meant less idiots on the road...none of this was mentioned when I took my test...they just said ...you have passed..enjoy your motoring!...

Don't get me started on only one headlight! A year or two ago I was in the waiting room of our local tyre place while new tyres were being fitted and balanced on the TF actually. They also do car repairs. A young woman came in and asked if they could look at her headlights. The comment went along the lines of 'I've only had one for ages, now the other doesn't work.....':bang: :bang: :bang:

David Aiketgate wrote: Personal experience has convinced me that Winter tyres are essential. I wouldn't get out of my village if there was snow or ice on the road without them. In fact I struggled to even get off my sloping drive onto the public road with Summer tyres if there was half an inch of snow down!

I know all the logistical problems of storage and additional costs to the car owner but surely the costs to the public purse, the deaths and injuries, the delays etc etc must outweigh those personal costs!

That doesn't even factor in the cost of salt gritting, and the associated rusty damage to vehicles and deterioration of the roads and general environmental impact.

I completely agree with you David. Even here in Canada, too many people do not use winter tyres. Winter tyres do not only improve traction on snow and ice, but on bare roads as well. As soon as the mercury drops below 7 degC, the rubber in so called 'all season tyres' is significantly harder than the rubber compound in winter tyres; you loose a lot of grip. I have noticed a new group of tires called all weather tyres, which do carry the mountain and snowflake image, supposed to provide good traction in the summer and winter.

One Province here in Canada have legislated the use of winter tires between mid-December and mid-March. I personally have always used winter tyres, even studded tires for a few years. I couldn't imagine not using them given the multiple benefits the winter tyre provides.

I thought that with all the talk about global warming...melting of the ice caps...milld winters and the like...that we wouldn't need snow tyres anymore...that we would be walking around only wearing sun cream and flip flops..

That's what I thought until I looked into it a bit more, quite frankly the description 'global warming' is all ass about face!

Yes the overall average temperature taken throughout the year is likely to be very slightly warmer, but the most important difference will be totally unexpected shifts in the weather with totally opposite peeks in both temperature, wind, rain and snow becoming far more irregular and almost impossible to predict.

mgtfbluestreak wrote: I thought that with all the talk about global warming...melting of the ice caps...milld winters and the like...that we wouldn't need snow tyres anymore...that we would be walking around only wearing sun cream and flip flops..

Global warming is a myth spread by the Chinese - Donald said!

Winter tyres are almost pointless dan saff, we've only had about 5 mornings of frost and no settled snow this winter.

A very important fact to consider when discussing winter tyres is that their compound formulation and tread patterns normally give far higher levels of grip in cold (please note not freezing) weather, most especially when braking in the wet.

If I was still a very high annual mileage driver, without doubt I would definitely have winter tyres fitted but as I am now a crusty OAP I can choose when I take my cars out onto the open road, as such I choose not to have winter tyres fitted, however, when selecting tyres for any of my vehicles, I always choose those with the best braking/grip performance in the wet.

I know there are a lot of low mileage drivers who opt to have winter tyres fitted and use them all year round, the only down side is that there softer compounds result in faster rates of wear.