Mandatory winter tire legislation

During winter months, Canadian motorists may drive on roads surfaces that are dry cold, wet, slushy, snowy or icy. In spite of inclement weather and difficult driving conditions, a study that reviewed the effectiveness and use of winter tires (Brown et al., 2012) cited the Rubber Association of Canada’s estimate that approximately half of the drivers in Canada use winter tires.

Québec is the only Canadian jurisdiction that has legislation mandating the use of winter tires. Coming into effect in December 2008, drivers of passenger vehicles and taxis in Québec were required to use winter tires from December 15th to March 15th each year. When examining fatal and serious injury crashes in Québec during the winter of 2004-2005, Fournier et. al. (2010) found that 38% of these collisions involved at least one vehicle that was equipped with all season tires, even though only 10% of vehicles in the province were equipped with all season tires during the winter months.

A Transports Québec study published in 2011 compared the average number of fatally and seriously injured crash victims during the five winters prior to the introduction of the new legislation with the serious casualty toll during the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 winters. The authors of the report indicated that the decrease in the number of crash victims was greater from December 15th to March 15th (during which time winter tires are mandatory) than during the rest of the year (18% as compared to 13% for all of Québec). The net reduction in crash victims was thus 5%, after taking into account the effect of the overall improvement in Québec’s road safety record over the previous years.

Many European countries that experience winter conditions similar to those in Canada (e.g. Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Slovenia, Latvia, and Lithuania) require drivers to use winter tires for defined periods of time during the winter months. Some countries (e.g. Croatia, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden) require snow tires in wintry weather conditions while other countries (e.g. Czech Republic, France, and Spain) require the use of snow tires on designated roads where signs inform drivers of the mandatory snow tire requirement. However, none of these countries have examined serious crash data during the winter months before and after the mandatory winter tire regulations came into effect.

The review of winter tire effectiveness and use by Brown et al. (2012) concluded that winter tires outperformed all-season tires in terms of traction, cornering, and braking in most of the known experimental studies and demonstration projects performed with different vehicles on various surfaces. For comparisons involving braking, the differences in stopping distances could be sufficiently significant to avoid a collision.

Scope of the Problem

• Brown, S., Vanlaar, W. & Robertson, R. (2012). Winter Tires: A Review of Research on Effectiveness and Use. Traffic Injury Research Foundation, Ottawa, ON. Retrieved from http://www.tirf.ca/publications/PDF_publications/2012_Winter_Tire_Report_7.pdf
• Fournier, L., Bélanger, C. (2010). A new measure making winter tires mandatory in Québec. Transportation Association of Canada 2010 Annual Conference, Halifax, NS. Retrieved from http://conf.tac-atc.ca/english/resourcecentre/readingroom/conference/conf2010/docs/k2/fournier-e.pdf
• European Commission. (undated). Winter tyres and other mandatory conditions. http://ec.europa.eu/transport/road_safety/observatory/doc/wintertyres_rules.pdf

Evidence

• Transports Québec.(2011). Follow-Up Report: Implementation of a measure making winter tires mandatory for certain road vehicles (only available in French). Québec, QC.: Transports Québec. Retrieved from http://www.mtq.gouv.qc.ca/portal/page/portal/Librairie/bpm/Rapport_pneus_hiver_avril2011.pdf