Tell the truth about studs

It would not trouble me nearly as much to have my studded tires banned if the justification was not grounded in the same disingenuous argument that insults everyone’s intelligence, or, at least, if new or original thought advanced the debate.

I can’t say it often enough: The primary reason most people buy studded tires is to avoid getting stuck going up Spokane’s South Hill, or even through many flat intersections where the torque of accelerating or braking vehicles has polished snow into ice. Stopping quicker is just a sidebar.

I’m especially dismayed that Sen. Marr is backing this subterfuge, because I thought he’d lived here long enough to know better, and because my wife, who knows him personally, is otherwise impressed by him.

The other dishonest argument is about saving concrete roads from studs, when the problem is really substandard asphalt that fails more not only under studs but during hot summer weather! Can’t we handle the truth as adults?

Philip J. Mulligan

Spokane