Extra Safety Margin Is A Priceless Benefit We Need Studs They’Re Still Best For Stopping On Ice.

You approach the stop sign cautiously. The road is icy. When you touch the brakes nothing happens.

Then, whump. You skid into the curb or off the road, or into another car.

Slippery streets and highways are a fact of life during Eastern Washington winters. Caution is the first rule of winter driving, but the added traction provided by studded tires can build in an extra margin of safety on icy roads.

Yet a blue ribbon commission on Washington highways proposes that studded tires be banned or made more expensive because they cause added wear to the roads.

What the commission failed to mention is that using the latest technology, a good part of the damage can be mitigated.

When Alaskan officials studied road wear from studded tires in 1995, they discovered very little research had been done in this country since the 1970s. Consequently, some assumptions about stud damage to roadways were outdated.

Alaskan road engineers traveled to Sweden, Norway and Finland, where studded tires are used extensively and research is ongoing. They found that the latest generation of lightweight studs reduce road wear by up to 50 percent compared with the wear from earlier studded tires. Furthermore, certain paving materials stand up to studs better than others, reducing pavement wear rates from 25 to 50 percent. Studded tires and good highways can coexist.

The state of Alaska also tested a variety of tires to see if studs really make a difference. The very best nonstudded snow tires performed similarly to studded tires in some tests. But for stopping on icy roads, studs were better. Braking from speeds as low as 25 mph, vehicles with studded tires stopped an average of 12 feet before the vehicles with nonstudded tires. That’s the difference between stopping at the stop sign or well into the intersection.

Studs really work. How can you put a price on the added safety they afford in winter driving conditions?

Thousands of miles of roads and highways crisscross the Inland Northwest. As diligent as they are, road crews, usually on tight budgets, can’t always keep the pavement clear of ice and snow. Regardless, tens of thousands of Inland Northwesterners must go about their business all winter long. We need to retain the additional margin of safety studded tires provide in winter driving.