Washington Votes Forum

I believe this to be a poor piece of legislation.  Studded, traction tires have been proven to be useful in certain snow conditions to prevent skidding and loss of control.  By having a better grip in certain snow conditions, it saves more vehicular accidents and, perhaps, death on our highways.

The key important thing about our highways is safety.  There is no sure-fire way to stop wear and tear on our highways forever.  That is, they all suffer attrition due to our tremendous volumes of traffic.  Therefore, repair and replacement is needed despite the kinds of tires we choose to have on our cars and trucks.

Heavy trucks and buses add the dimension of extra weight to the road surface which does probably more damage that many cars with studded traction tires.  Yet, we share the road with heavy vehicles because they are needed for transportation and commerce.

Lastly, the sale and installation of tires is a big business in our state and many choose the extra expense of studded tires.  The extra money from the sale of studded tires and the taxes that accompany those transactions provide much needed income for our state.  Is this the time to begin cutting back on state revenue from any source?  Each month the indebtedness of our state climbs as we scramble to get business back on track.  Any legislation that would prove counter to this goal should be thrown out.

On the contrary this is an excellent piece of legislation! Studded tires have been banned in Wisconsin for 40 years and they have the best roads in the nation. Saying trucks are the cause of the roads being tore up is a lame excuse. While trucks have a heavy gross weight they also have a huge tread footprint to spread that weight out equalizing the weight factor.

Studded tires are nothing more than a placebo and I believe cause as many accidents that they prevent, because drivers become complacent to their surroundings and drive beyond the limits of the studded tires. I have been driving for 30 years and have never used studded tires. There are superior products on the market to steel studs in your tires if you think you need better traction.

I say learn how to drive when it is slick, but If you cannot drive without steel spikes sticking out of your tires when it is a bit slick then stay home or take the bus. Got to go that bad? Chain up, but forget the studs that I hear eating up the pavement when it is raining or even on dry pavement. Pass this legislation!

thedeanofmen:

Pass this legislation!

Right, pass the legislation, put thousands of more people out of work.  Put the poor tire guy who gets to shoot the studs into the tires for minimum wage out of work.  Put those who work on the roads out of work.  Put those people who change the tires twice a year out of work.  After all this is a depression and WA state has to do it's job if the queen wants the bailout O promised her.

As for me, I'm going to keep my studded tires.

DK

Pass this and save the state hundereds of millions of dollars in wasted repairs on our highways from the destruction studded tires cause and use the money for needed expansion to our highway system like the North South Freeway in Spokane.

As for the argument about big trucks and busses, they are not a factor in the rutting of our concrete roadways. You can thank the studded tires for that.

There are alternatives to studded snow tires and they do improve traction in winter weather. Just like studs they aren't optimal for all winter conditions but they also don't tear the hell out of the roads. My point being that getting rid of studded tires does not necessarily mean people will run the same tires year round and put people out of work. This is just a common sense bill. At the very least studded tires should have a steep tax or yearly permit placed on thier use to make the stubborn people who still use them pay for thier damage to the roads. Another thing to look at is state such as Minnesota that get far worse winters than us but have studded tires banned.

Ban them or make them pay to use them

Cetta

 Do you honestly believe that the politicians will use the money for anything needed (like new roads) much less then anything east of the mountains?

Dream on...

DK

Studs damage roads more than necessary there are perfectly viable alternatives and no reason to degrade the condition of our roads in a way that studs do. Using studs is kinda like smoking sure it has bad effects but meh I like to do it so I'm gonna keep doing it. Its just ignorant. honestly I dont care what the money is spent on as long as its not wasted on roads that foolish people have destroyed prematurely due to their closed minded thinking about types of snow tires when its probably only about 25% of driver who are tearing up the roads and forcing all the other taxpayers to pay for it.

Cetta, you said if we use studded tires then let us pay for them.  Great, did you know we do that in an increase in excise tax anyways? 

What are the viable alternatives are you talking about, new innovative rubber in tires that on one can afford?  Years ago they had sawdust tires and walnut-shell impregnented tires, but was only used for postal vehicles, however the US government decided that studs were more effective so they quit making them.  Plus if only the postal vehicles were the only one using them, what does that tell you about the cost of such tires?

And, where do you get the 25% number?  Nowhere does that number show-up in any statistic, please authenticate.  As for your alagory between smoking and studded tires....  BULL.  Smoking is only good for paying taxes, it doesn't save lives like studded tires.  And, since you're so hot about paying for things, you will pay more in insurance because the Insurance board recognizes that studded tires do save lives and prevent damage, whereas other tires on the market do not.  I don't know about you but insurance costs are high enough already.

DK 

You do realize that studded tires only help in 1% of the driving condidtions during winter and actually reduce your ability to stop and manuver in dry/wet conditions due to the reduced rubber contact patch on the road surface. Since the dry/wet driving conditons are more prevelant that would increase the likely hood of accidents for people who are using studded tires. This is why snow tires without studs are a better option for winter driving. If there is icy conditions people shoud use chains which are easly removed when they are not needed. studded tires also give people a false sense of security which makes them feel like they have the ability to drive more agressively then conditions actually allow.

kenny63931:

If there is icy conditions people shoud use chains which are easly removed when they are not needed.

You have obviously never heard of "black" ice.  Ice forming on bridgens, overpasses and during foggy conditions when the tempreture is about 34 degrees. 

What are we suppose to do when that happens, get out on the side of the road and put chains on, with a top speed of 20 miles an hour, I'm sure that will make lots of people on the I-5 parking lot happy.

However, not that many people know how to put on chains, and chains are not that easy to take off.  As for the ability to drive more aggreseively then conditons allow, that has been happeining since Benz invented the internal combustion engine and there have been teenagers. 

DK