Winter Tires

Anyone who has been driving in Calgary over the last week has had their nerves tested. After a storm and high temperatures hovering around -20 C, the roads are covered with ice and packed snow. Perfect conditions for slipping and sliding. If it were a game of bumper cars, it would be perfect.

One problem is that it seems not many people in Calgary have snow tires. Well, maybe its time for a law similar to that passed in Quebec:

Quebec has a new law that makes winter tires mandatory from Nov. 15 to April 15, whether you live in Val-d'Or or downtown Montreal. Austria has a similar law and, in Germany, many insurers will not pay winter weather-induced claims if your vehicle is not properly equipped with winter tires. Ontario is debating a mandatory winter tire law of its own.

While this may impose an additional cost on drivers, when one looks at the current conditions on the roads, its hard to imagine that people aren't incurring similar costs in terms of time lost in traffic, vehicle damages, and tax money spend pulling accidents from the road.