Should the Province pass a law making winter tires mandatory in Manitoba, following the lead of Quebec who made them mandatory 2 years ago and have seen an 18% drop in accidents?

It’s been two years since snow tires became a mandatory requirement for winter driving and 547 Quebecers have avoided becoming a winter collision statistic, according to data from the Ministry of Transport (MTQ).

“For all of Quebec, we observe a 18 per cent reduction in the number of road accident victims during the year when winter tires are mandatory, compared with 13 per cent for the rest of the year,” said the MTQ in an advisory.
http://www.sherbrookerecord.com/content/view/558864/1/

Today, Minister Andrew Swan said that they have no plans to introduce such a law. But they are looking at it.

"If there's a business case that can be made and we can show Manitobans that they would actually be saving money, then we'd make an argument,” said Justice Minister, Andrew Swan. “We've got no plans.”

similar thread: http://kwdc.forumn.net/local-f4/winter-tires-or-all-season-t3615.htm?highlight=winter+tires

only if provided free from the companies

I like mandatory stuff - people need to be protected from or punished for their stupidity.

Only if we saw an 18% or better reduction/rebate in our MPIC rates to help offset the costs involved in purchasing the tires and having them installed/uninstalled every year.

For myself, I'd be looking at MINIMUM $800 for the set plus at least $400 for an extra set of steel rims (probably more as I'd need 17"). So that's $1200 or more out of pocket to get started, plus $50-100 twice a year to have them mounted/removed. Assuming they last 4 seasons, I'm out around $400-500/year for winter tires. Ouch!
The math just doesn't make sense for me. In 20 years of driving I've had had ZERO winter collisions (damn hope I dont jinx myself now). Drive for the conditions and you'll be just fine. While I agree that winter tires are VASTLY superior to all-season in the snow/ice, the cost is still prohibitive to many. If there was some sort of rebate to encourage their use I'd be all for it. Bring it down to a total cost of $200/year or less and I'm all in. For $400/year or more it's just too expensive for me.

I bit the bullet and bought four tires with black rims, cost around $1200 or so. I sure hope they last more than four years, though.

I suppose I could afford to replace them every four years if I had to.

If you want more than 4 years out of them you better make sure they are not on your vehicle if the temperature is anything over -2 or so. The rubber is incredibly soft on winter tires. I see tons of people driving around with them on already and they don't realise how quick they wear when it's above zero. Also depends on mileage, for me 4 seasons would equal around 40-50K...that's about all I'd expect out of such a soft compound.

Also, one must consider that we have snow-free pavement most of the time, on most streets. That will wear out the tires even in colder temps I reckon.

I somehow get the gut feeling that the Mafia had a lot to do with the decision to make them mandatory.

Our swagger wagon has all seasons from March to November, and then we flop it over to the winter tires when it starts getting to this time of year. Which reminds me that I need to make an appointment for this to get done. I don't like the idea of making them mandatory, but perhaps an incentive via rate reduction or rebate from MPI would be effective in getting more people to switch over. ICBC doesn't require winter tires in urban centres, but the RCMP will ticket anyone out on the highways through mountain passes if they do not have them. They were mulling over making them mandatory last year, but I don't think it ever got legs.

I have always used all-seasons. They work just fine in Winnipeg. I imagine if one does a lot of driving in uber-snowy conditions winter tires are the way to go.

The Old Man does a lot of driving for work, and often over long distances (like driving to hell holes like Thunder Bay) in the winter. They are necessary.

Agree Grumnpyrom, you'll wear them especially since what JTF says is true. I've only had one problem and that was back in the early 90's when they allowed ruts to form on Corydon.

Regardless of what you had on your car you jump the rut and you are going 360.

Whats next, mandatory studs on tires. Slow down and all seasons are perfectly fine like GOM said, been driving those for over 30 years with no problems.

All season are perfectly fine unless the idiot in front of you stops short, and you realize that all season's are about 30% worse in stopping compared with winter tires!
My wife's cars traction with her "good" all season's on them suck!

This will happen if the tire industry infiltrates government. like they did when they teamed up with the bus industry and took over city hall to get rid of our trains and raillines permanently so we would have to use their buses and tires.

rosencrentz wrote:All season are perfectly fine unless the idiot in front of you stops short, and you realize that all season's are about 30% worse in stopping compared with winter tires!
My wife's cars traction with her "good" all season's on them suck!

Then you are driving to close....well thats what MPIC will tellya.

Watching Munich, good movie. Jews are an unforgiving bunch , I like it.

Livio- I cannot ever forgive you for that negative comment! You can expect a visit from Mossad, or if you prefer MizP and myself!

No more forgiveness! We did that for centuries and it did not work out!

I just bought new all-seasons (GoodYear Fortera TripleTread) that are already "Winter rated" complete with the little snowflake symbol. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Goodyear&tireModel=Fortera+TripleTred check out the reviews!

AFAIK, those are one of the few all-season tires that are winter rated.

IMO, winter rated tires or not, still doesn't make up for crappy driving skills. You can try, but you cannot legislate against stupid (behavior).

Exactly.

Plus, some people drive like idiots because they think that the snow/ice tires allow them to stop on a dime, just like in the summer.....duh!!!

JTF wrote:Plus, some people drive like idiots because they think that the snow/ice tires allow them to stop on a dime, just like in the summer.....duh!!!

I can't drive (like a jack-a$$) with my winter tires like it's summer out? What's the point then?