The debate about winter tyres is hotting up again, as it does every year.
The amusing thing is that everyone pontificating about them seems to forget the extremely mild w
eather we’ve had all winter, and the fact that winter tyres really only have benefits that outweigh any drawbacks below 7°C. So between October (the date all the experts reckon they should go on) last year and now, there have been approximately 7 days during which they may technically have been an advantage, and only ONE day so far where they would definitely have been so.
Even today the temperature has been up at around 5°C, in spite of all that snow last night.
The other thing I’m hearing now is that apparently, anyone who doesn’t have winter tyres fitted is a danger on the roads! This is just another attempt to bolster an argument which doesn’t really have a right and a wrong side in this country. But driving instructors are very monochromatic when it comes to their beliefs.
Ask an ADI a question, and he can only answer based on his own experiences – but he will consider those experiences to be fact, and will be unable to grasp the fact that others have totally different experiences, all of which add together to make an overall picture.
So, I guess that all those 4x4s, top marque cars, and “experts” that insist on overtaking at a greater speed, cutting in, and giving their winter tyres a good old work out in poor driving conditions are something we should all be grateful for. That’s what’s being implied.
The fact of the matter is that without years of driving experience on snow and using winter tyres – something none of these “experts” has – there is one thing they are all completely oblivious, yet completely beholden, to. What?
A false sense of security.
And that puts everyone on the roads – whether they’ve got winter tyres or not – at risk.
You don’t have to have winter tyres. In some cases, in some areas, at some times, some people might benefit from them. But that doesn’t mean everyone will.
However, like I said. The fact that others have alternative experiences? A very difficult concept for many of these people.