Studded tires for city driving
I can’t say it should be illegal, because undoubtedly some people do need to use studded tires.
But the average intra-city driver does not need studs in their tires. Why people in St. John’s are adamant to have studs when they are driving on slush-cover asphalt is beyond me.
If wearing studs was neutral to city infrastructure I wouldn’t mind. But it’s not!
Studded tires cause severe damage to roadways when under regular use.
They are banned in some states in the US because of the damage they cause compared to the relative safety benefits they provide. Studded tires only perform better directly on snow or ice and have less traction when on asphalt.
“Pavement ruts caused by increased wear from studded tires can cause the dangerous conditions of trammeling, hydroplaning on accumulated water in the ruts, excessive road spray, and premature damage to pavement markings.”
To top it off cars with studded tires require as much as 1.2 to 15% more gas than cars without which contributes poorly to the environment.
It is still a matter of great debate between the advantages and disadvantages of using studded tires, but those who use them tend to contend they are safer. Studies show that radial tires actually offer comparable safety without all of the asphalt damage.
I rant about this today because it is clear that studded tires have become very popular and you can see it in the roads of St. John’s. There aren’t many roads in the city right now that aren’t adversely affected by the use of studded tires.
People who use studded tires should be subjected to a tax that goes to pay for fixing the roads they destroy.
From Washington.edu: Studded Tire Information
From Tire Information World: Studded Tire Report
What about the inferior asphalt that has been used on our roads for years? What about the thousands of over loaded trucks that travel our roads daily they don’t cause ruts in the roads? These coupled with our rapidly changing weather ie. freezing and thawing are causing the potholes and ruts not our small population that use studs. We in Newfoundland need studded tires again because of our weather we are prone to black ice and siped studded tires are far superior than tires with out studs. Just one example was last year i was sitting on signal hill watching cars pinball off the guard rails because of black ice i put my suv in low gear and drove down the hill with out slipping or sliding once that was with studded hankook w409′s that is just one time where i knew they saved me how many times did they keep me on the highway that i did not know about? As far as fuel consumption is concerned winter tires drive that up anyway it is really a non issue.
Thanks Gerry! Two counter points.
One, there is no doubt there are other contributing factors to deteriorating roads, however there are studies that show the impact that frequent studded tire use has on roads.
Second the cars on signal hill would notice very minimal improvement, if any, when driving on black ice. Studded tires are great for driving through thick snow or weak ice. The studs can actually offer less traction on asphalt because there are less points of contact and the studs have a low coefficient of friction.
My point still stands that while they should be allowed users should be taxed to pay for road maintenance for the damage they cause.