"It should be the law that you agree with me" has to be a new low in quality of argument.

Snow tires in Ontario seem to encourage the less-restrained drivers to put their lead foot on the gas.

It's NOT a legal requirement to use winter tires in Ontario, and look at the problems people had of getting winter tires in Quebec when it came in last year.

The legal speed limit on the 401 is 100kph, but you tell me how many people actually obey it. No law is any good unless it's strictly enforced, so let's not add new laws until the old ones are either rigidly enforced or changed to make them easier to enforce.


Bull. If you know your car doesn't have snow tires, drive a little more carefully. Then again, you work in an industry where you have to be told when to take breaks.

I just hope you dont ever get involved in an accident, where it can be proven that winter tires could have prevented any injuries

I agree, my husband's manual Golf GTI with winter tires is definitely a safer as well as more economical drive than my half-ton. However as I was too scared to drive it that was neither here nor there! As soon as we have more money the truck will be exchanged for something better - I'd like one of those Hybrid Highlanders. We had one on hire for about three weeks in New York and it was very nice.

In the summer I'm hoping to get really fit and cycle to work - my boss tells me that there are some really nice tracks I can use but there is the matter of the big hill - oh and the bears! Then we'll just use the truck at the weekends for going kayaking etc

Not all of them. Our GTI manual was shipped from Germany. That was to NYC mind, but they said that they didn't build them in Mexico (might be the manual spec). I have heard that American VWs don't have the build standard that we expect in Europe - friends of ours thought we were buying a very unreliable marque, which we thought crazy, especially as they were driving an American car themselves!

still suffering from status envy, and apparently a small penis, i purchased a 4.6 v8 range rover. everyone should own a car that does 12mpg and has a heated steering wheel at some point in their lives.

uk- alfa 156 2.0l veloce

I hope so too. Accidents aren't caused by a lack of winter tyres, they can only help as part of a well-maintained vehicle with a competent driver. If you're driving too fast for the road conditions, traffic and other factors then snow tires aren't to to make musch difference.

Yes, I'm aware people drive too fast in summer or winter, it's an issue I take great exception to, especially the idiots in the transport trucks who drive so close to the car in front that if that vehicle were to brake the transport wouldn't be able to avoid hitting it. I had one do that to me this afternoon, and I got so pissed off at the driver that I slowed to 100kph and put my 4-ways on. All he did was sound his air horn. I'd like to see how winter tires would have helped that idiot.

We found driving in the couple of days before our snow tires were fitted quite scary with the GTI, once it had the tires on the grip was noticeably different. My truck, which has all weather tires felt very unsafe when it was really icy before Christmas (even with AWD), I fishtailed down the drive two or three times, and we very nearly drove into the car in front of us at a stop sign because we didn't realise just how poor it's traction was. Of course if we had been used to the conditions we would have known what a huge gap to leave in front of us to be safe, but if a child or cat/dog had stepped in front of the truck unexpectedly we would probably in truth have killed them (and I was driving very slowly and carefully). Next winter if I still have my truck it will have winter tires, and I am surprised that in places with significant snow it isn't a requirement of insurance.

I have Mercedes 220 cdi here and the wife has a Peugeot 206, previously I had an A4 Avant that I really liked and the wife a Mazda 323 which she really liked.

I quite like the Acura TL or TSX (something like that) and Mazda 3 for the wife if we neeed 2 cars. Failing that just whatever we can afford at the time

The GTA, of course, doesn't have significant snow.

On the other hand if they fill people with a false sense of security and everyone drives around thinking they are impervious to the laws of physics....

I know many families who simply dont have $800 burning a hole in their pocket. The last thing they need right now is a government mandated purchase order.

The solution to winter safety in all situations is to SLOW DOWN. That costs nothing.

Maybe they should have dual speed limits, one for normal conditions, one for bad conditions. That would cost the motorist nothing but a bit of time.

If there was a zero limit you would have a leg to stand on, but in practice very few people know for a fact when they are exceeding 80mg...is it one beer, is it three. Its left to us to decide what is "responsible" behaviour, the limit is there for enforcement reasons.

Whats needed is some sort of law that charges people if they are diving dangerously, recklessly, without taking conditions into account....Oh hang on...that's covered by dangerous driving legislation!

How many people obey the speed limits now? I fully agree with your post but you'll always get someone who thinks that more government rules are the answer to everything. The lower speed limit could be issued as part of a weather warning on the news and on the over head signs on highways.

Some US states have different speed limits for transport trucks for day and night driving, and the UK has different speed limits for transports and coaches.

Oh, and we drive a 2005 Sebring.

First, I have to take a poke at Gremmie's

"By not buying them you havent done all you can for road safety"

if we wanted to do all that we can for road safety we'd take the train. All driving entails risk.

Dual speed limits won't work because conditions aren't "good" or "bad" but vary. For example, this morning I drove in dense fog, a difficult circumstance requiring lower speeds than a clear night with icy roads; no speed is a safe speed when you can't see where you're going. Given that the speed limits now are implemented on the assumption that everyone drives 10-15% faster than the posted numbers, displaying a lower speed limit in bad weather just implies that the proper speed is a bit faster than that displayed. Better to let people figure it out on their own.

I dont, but I'll do 120-125 on the 400s, and 100 on the 80 limit highways because it seems safe enough and If I do much more than that the penalties become prohibitive if caught....I think many others think the same way, they speed, but they limit it based on what the likely penalty would be, its a calculated risk.

So if it was dropped in bad conditions to say 70 on the 400s and 50 or 60 on the highways, then people would start to worry about the consequences that bit sooner perhaps....

Ideally people should drive according to the conditions they are encountering..but you and I both know life isnt always like that, so some sort of condition related limit change seems a better bet than mandating winter tires in a province where millions in the city probably will never notice any benefit.


And having said all that I still think money for snow tires is well spent, Ive avoided one absolutely dead certain accident this year thanks to them, having slammed on the brakes and stopped 5 feet short of a nasty full frontal wreck. The guy at the front of the line was not as lucky and hopefully his legs will mend.