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February 23, 2009 in City
Lawmaker seeks studded-tire ban
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)
OLYMPIA – 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.
“Before, we could view it as a price we pay to accommodate people’s insecurities about not having their studs,” he said. “Can we afford to throw those dollars out the window?”
His Senate Bill 6066 would ban the sale or use of the tires. The co-sponsors include Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane. Marr says he’s open to phasing out the use of the tires over several years to avoid penalizing people who just bought them.
Other Eastern Washington lawmakers say a ban would be a dangerous mistake.
“I’d invite Senator Marr to come visit me in January,” said Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda. “It’s a huge safety thing. I am not convinced that there’s any alternative that really works on ice.”
Maybe there’s a way to set up a geographic limit, Kretz said. He said he feels a little bad when driving around in Olympia, with his studded tires clicking away on roads that rarely see snow or ice.
“I am sympathetic,” he said. “There is a lot of damage done.”
According to legislative research, studded tire sales in Washington fell by half from 1997 to 2003. In 2003, the last year for which data was available, roughly 140,000 of the tires were sold in the state.
Marr’s not alone in proposing legislation to lessen the impact of studs on roads. State Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, wants to establish a $100 annual fee for each vehicle with studded tires. His bill is Senate Bill 5859.
To defuse the argument that the bill puts an undue hardship on Eastern Washington, Marr’s bill would also set up a $10 million account for grants to cities and counties wanting to repair ruts or other damage from studded tires. Since such damage is likely to be worse in Eastern Washington, the money would largely stay east of the Cascades.
Studded tires were banned in Washington until 1969, when lawmakers voted to allow their use year-round. By 1971, with nearly a third of all the cars in the state having studded tires, worried state officials got lawmakers to limit their use to between November 1 and April 1.
In 1977, as ruts worsened, the state transportation department issued a report saying that studded snow tires give drivers “about a 10 percent advantage over conventional tires” for stopping on glare ice and hard-packed snow. The rest of the time, the department said, there was no advantage. On wet asphalt, studs were worse.
For the past 25 years, state transportation officials have been trying to convince lawmakers to once again ban studded tires. After several failed attempts at a ban, lawmakers tried in 1991 and 1993 to pass a law charging a $25 tax on all studded tires. Later they proposed an annual “permit fee” of $8 per tire.
In 1994, lawmakers in the House tried to outlaw studded tires west of the Cascade Mountains unless it was snowing there. The bill died when the state patrol said that it would be extremely difficult to enforce.
In recent years, lawmakers have repeatedly proposed a $15 fee on each studded tire, as well as shortening the five-month use period to three. All failed.
Despite that history, Marr said he’s confident the bill will getting a hearing.
Will it pass?
“I think it’s a conversation we need to have,” he said.
If not, he said, the issue may be taken out of the hands of lawmakers. Western Washington voters would almost certainly back an immediate ban, Marr believes.
“You could put this up as a ballot measure and it would pass instantly,” he said.
Cutbacks curtail campsite comforts 
westside on February 23 at 9:06 p.m.
Take a look at I 90 thru Spokane..4 inch deep ruts from Havana to Hamilton……go figure..
Erik_T on February 23 at 10:53 p.m.
It is my belief that a much more comprehensive study pertaining to the damage done to the roads, and its causes, needs to be addressed before placing a vote on the proposed bill. I find it hard to believe that studs alone are the cause of damage to our roads here in Spokane. I further find that the base engineering done from creation of our roads (substances used) and the layers laid therein is a major part of the problem. Not to mention the fact that snow and ice coupled with weight of vehicles will drive the h20 into any cracks, indentations, or uneven abnormalities causing premature errosion of the surface. So, are the studs to blame, or is it the road material coupled with the elements? I would wager it is a 30/70 split with other factors outside of the two aforementioned coming into play.
UWhuskytskeet on February 23 at 11:07 p.m.
Everyone can use chains as an alternative. Nothing like a street littered in scrap metal, not to mention the much larger divots in the pavement.
spokanimaless on February 23 at 11:57 p.m.
Having lived here now 4 years, and NEVER having put studded tires on my car (or chains for that matter), I have not once had any issues with driving around town… and I drive a small VW Beetle. The idea that studded tires somehow make driving more secure is just crazy. People need to slow down and be careful - Period! The damage to the roads is amazing. I’m from central Oregon and there isn’t this kind of problem at all. I think it’s great to pass this legislation; just make sure the people coming across from Idaho using our roads are held to the same standard.
Ken on February 24 at 6:45 a.m.
I have lived here for over 30 years and stopped using studded tires about 10 years ago. spokanimaless is right in that people learning to drive in hazardous conditions has a much better impact than studded tires. As for evidence of road damage, have you driven 90 downtown anytime over the past several decades? That’s not normal wear and tear. I would love to be able to drive down the middle of the lane without getting stuck in ruts. It’s also an embarrassment to have to explain to out-of-town visitors why the freeway looks so bad.
BurtonWood on February 24 at 7:32 a.m.
This initiative to ban studded tires is a long time coming. Washington State winters are mild compared to other parts of the world where studded tires are banned and accidents are few. The destruction to our roads is not worth the cost and the sooner they are banned the better we’ll be. The problem lies with the drivers, not with road ice.
I am a life long resident of Washington State and I live in the snowiest parts of the state and I’ve never owned studded tires or been in an accident. If people can’t drive without their studded tires then they should do us a favor and stay home and not drive at all.
Studded tires should be banned. Only candy ass pussies need to drive with studs.
philipgregory on February 24 at 8:28 a.m.
Those 4 inch plus ruts are more dangerous than a front wheel drive vehicle without studded tires - period.
Rear wheel drive just must have chains (plastic work ok - see Snobootz).
lewis8457 on February 24 at 8:32 a.m.
I have never owned a pair of studded tires and have lived in Spokane going on 52 years now. I do think it would be easier to get people to stop using them in Spokane if our city knew what the terms snow plow and sand meant. But since they don’t many people think they need more traction on the 12 inches of snow that made our side streets impassable for 72 days.
In fact this winter was the only year I have ever used chains.
I do agree it has a lot of do with the inferior materials they use on the roads and many years ago a engineer from Seattle told us our road crew do not put down a thick enough base and that is the cause of a lot of the road wear.
But as usual instead of the city or state correcting those errors we the people get to do with out something else to appease them.
rshroll on February 24 at 10:24 a.m.
Great idea! I have lived in E. Washington for decades and never use studs, since my 350 hp rear wheel drive care in 1978. Rare need for chains on mountain passes. Michigan and Minnesota have had studs completely banned since the early 1970s. The ruts on I-90 happen so much faster than on I-5 where traffic is much heavier and studs are legal, but are far less used. This ban should have been done long ago.
MrNatural on February 24 at 11:28 a.m.
I have lived in Eastern Washington for 34 years and never used studded tires. I log at minimum 1000 miles per month throughout Spokane County plus my private use. Studs are for Dud’s
Joliska on February 25 at 8:59 a.m.
I agree with Mr. Joel Kretz. I lived in the same area for 18 years. The snowy roads are quite different in Spokane then they are in Wauconda and Republic. Without those studded tires, it is not likely I would have been able to go anywhere, all winter. The studded tires are not soley to blame for Spokane’s bad roads. There is so much traffic on the roads in and out of Spokane that it’s no wonder the roads are like they are. There are other ways to protect the roads, or even just take into consideration that Spokane is not the only city with snow fall all winter long. For people who think that studded tires are useless, then try driving out to Republic without them. I guarentee you’ll not enjoy walking back to town when you slide off the road into a ditch.
flyerd1 on March 03 at 12:10 p.m.
I agree that they should be banned. By the way, the $18.2 million figure is from a 2006 study; it’s more like 20+ million now and will only go up… For the most part studs just provide a false sense of security and other states like MN, WI, MI, and IL ban studs even though they get as much, if not more, snow than we do. Even for those who feel dependent on studs, we only have a few days throughout the entire winter where studs could even be considered helpful to them. The damage done to the safety of the roads isn’t worth the 5-10 days (on avg) that studs could even remotely seem useful.
Aside from the optimum choice of a ban, we should (at the very least) reduce the stud season to 08 Dec - 01Mar which covers 95% of the winter driving season. We should also charge $25 per tire to use studs so that the users are paying for the damage they’re doing.
For the people who say they need studs on 2 wheel drive cars: One of our cars is a 2 wheel drive Toyota Echo. That’s a super small economy car that we were able to drive perfectly fine without studs for the entire winter minus approximately 5 days because of a high centering issue. Our 2 wheel drive pickup was able to get around just fine the entire winter. The main reason people have trouble isn’t due to tires, it’s because they overestimate their driving ability &/or fail to realize that high centered vehicles will end up in the ditch “regardless” of what type of tires they have…
I’ve heard people complaining that lawmakers should be focusing on “more important things” than studs. Well, in govt (and life) it’s necessary to be able to juggle many issues at once; it’s most certainly the job of government officials to deal with big and small issues at the same time. States are actually required to have a balanced budget every year. Therefore, examining ways to save a currently wasted $20+million a yr is certainly a good use of their time as part of working on the budget. I’m sure everyone understands what a budget is right?
-Dave
P.S. This comes from someone who lives up by Mt Spokane and gets plenty of snow.
wanative on March 11 at 11:32 a.m.
As one who has extensive experience with both studded and new technology studdless tires, I am convinced that studs give superior traction and stopping ability on ice and snow that has compacted to ice.
The WSDOT study in question claims all surface wear on concrete roads to be caused by studs, which I find dubious. The 18 million dollar cost is a shotgun estimate for resurfacing by expensive diamond grinding, and is represented as the total cost to repair 40 years’ worth of wear, not an actual cost per anum. If the state patrol ticketed drivers who crashed or slid off the road due to poorly equipped cars (inadequate tires or chains) under RCW 46.61.400 (negligent driving), the state would generate roughly 11 million dollars in revenue annually. This would both add maintenance funds and deter unqualified or unskilled drivers from venturing out and endangering those of us who pay to be prepared for winter conditions which are regular occurrences in this region. Those of us who are willing to pay the extra cost of owning and using studded tires should not be vilified or penalized for keeping our families, as well as the families of others safer. Let’s all be safe :)