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Winter Driving
Concerns Related to the use of Studded Tires
Safety, education, road conditions, and awareness all play into the studded
tire discussion and have to be considered as decisions are made. Without
a doubt, it’s a very emotional issue and one that WSDOT takes seriously.
The following bullets attempt to highlight the key points that surfaced
as WSDOT evaluated the studded tire issue:
- Rutting damage caused by studded tires is limited to state
routes, primarily on the interstates. This is due to the higher speeds
and volumes.
- Concrete: 100% of rutting damage is related to stud use (roughness,
noise)
- Asphalt: Approximately 60% of the rutting damage is related to stud
use.
- Rutting leads to ponding, hydroplaning, excess roads spray,
and “auto-pilot” problems. All are safety issues, but are
somewhat difficult to quantify.
- Research indicates
that stopping distances for studded tires are greater than the stopping
distance for all other tires on wet or dry pavement.
- Modern
stud alternative tires (such as the Toyo “Observe” or the Bridgestone “Blizzak”)
are superior to studded tires in all snow conditions except for clear
ice near freezing temperatures. Some are now better than studded tires
in all conditions.
- WSDOT has an aggressive
snow
and ice removal program. WSDOT estimates that conditions where
studded tires would offer an advantage (clear ice near freezing temperatures)
occur 1% or less of the time on state routes. The percentage of time
will
continue to decrease as WSDOT’s anti-icing expands.
- There are approximately
54,000 miles of city/county roads compared to about 7,000 miles of
state routes. The perception that studded tires allow the driver to feel
safer is probably valid due to a much higher likelihood that snow and
ice conditions
exist on city/county streets during and after a storm event to a much
greater degree than on adjacent state routes.
- According to a recent
survey, the public is unaware of the safety issues as well as the alternatives
to studded tires that exist. Additionally, the safety issues did not
appear to resonate with people.
- The survey indicated that
most people would not be willing not pay a fee, even as low as $5,
on studded tires. The survey also indicated that a ban on studded tires
would
not be a significant concern to a majority of drivers.
- WSDOT worked collaboratively
with the tire industry over the past several months. The industry has
taken a major shift in perspective – their marketing and education
are now focused on alternatives to stud tires for winter driving.
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