Dod101 wrote:I am slightly bemused by this entire thread because we have so little snow these days that I would not even dream of using winter tyres. Mind you, if we did get a lot of snow I would just stay at home. But it must be 2010/11 since we had any significant snow.
Dod
I'm in Aberdeenshire, but I do go skiing (both xc and downhill) so I'm regularly driving up roads like the Rhynie to Dufftown road or the A93 the Glenshee when there is snow and the winters make a big difference. Plus if the weather is bad I drive the 15miles into work in Aberdeen rather than cycle. Winter tyres give improved grip when the temperature is below ~7C compared to summer tyres due to the tyre compound even if it is not snowy or icy, plus on frosty mornings (which we still get) I get a lot more grip than the summer shod vehicles (if the speed other drivers are doing is an indication). So I reckon its worth having the winter tyres just for those cold and frosty days even without the snow.
I agree though we are getting a lot less snow. It used to be that there would be a least a few days every year when there was a decent fall of snow and the roads needed ploughing because of drifting. Last couple of years there has been no real snow events. Last bad year I think was winter 11/12, and 10/11 was very bad with lying snow for a couple of weeks in late December. Interestingly i think the driving ability in snow has got much worse recently. I never used to have a problem getting into work even in bad snow conditions. But in recent years even though the snow has been no where near as bad, I've encountered much more very slow or stationary traffic on days when there has been a little snow fall. I think that is because less people are fitting winter tyres and there are more drivers with no experience of real winter driving. Leading to people getting stuck on hills or driving really slowly and causing big tailbacks.
