Item: Lawmaker seeks studded-tire ban/Richard Roesler, SR

Peter Geissinger, a mechanic with Perfection Tire and Auto Repair at 604 E 2nd Ave., prepares to bag up a customer’s snow tires.
(Full-size photo)

To state Sen. Chris Marr, it’s a simple cost-benefit analysis. The cost: an estimated $18.2 million a year in state road damage from metal tire studs hammering away at pavement. The benefit: better traction only during a relatively rare driving condition: a roadway slick with sheet ice. Washington drivers, according to the state Department of Transportation, encounter those conditions only about 1 percent of the time. With Washington facing a $500 million transportation budget shortfall, Marr, D-Spokane, thinks it’s time to ban studs.

Question: Would you support bills to outlaw studded snow tires in Washington and Idaho? Or would you prefer that those who ran studs paid an extra fee to pay for road repair. Or would you prefer that legislators leave things alone?