As the first snow flies, many drivers will no doubt turn their attention to studded tires. If you are one of them, please reconsider. Traditions are fine, but for most people this one stopped making sense a long time ago.

Consider winter tires, or siping those all-season tires. Don’t take our word for it. Here’s a review from last January’s Consumer Reports:

“The good news from our tests of winter tires is that tires continue to improve, so finding a tire that meets your needs is less difficult. Moreover, our test of studded vs. unstudded winter tires shows that for most drivers, studs may hurt more than help.”

The Washington State Transportation Department concurs, noting that in wet conditions it takes longer to stop a vehicle with studded tires. The difference is negligible on packed snow. The only advantage to using studs is on those rare glare-ice days. So why use a noisy tire that more often than not performs poorly during Inland Northwest winters?

If studs didn’t gouge asphalt, create ruts and rip apart government budgets, we wouldn’t care. But they do. Studs inflict about $10 million in damage annually. Plus, the slow stopping times in wet conditions makes those vehicles more prone to accidents, which are also costly.

Two-thirds of Eastern Washington drivers have figured out that the new technology in tires has rendered studs obsolete. They’re being smart, not reckless.

In addition, governments are finding road-repair dollars much harder to come by. The city of Spokane’s 10-year bond to fix the roads will total $117 million. Even then, only about one-third of roads will get fixed. Meanwhile, budget realities have forced politicians to scale back plans for the north-south freeway.

We can complain that Olympia doesn’t give us our fair share, but that would be more compelling if so many Eastern Washington motorists weren’t legally ripping up the roads.

Try the new tires before reflexively turning to studs. Taxpayers will thank you for saving them money without sacrificing your safety.