Something you don't hear anymore

Here in Ontario, in the vast area north of the French River , studded winter tires are legal to use , but they are hard on the road surfaces. Commercial tractor trucks still "chain up " their drive wheels when needed in deep snow or icy road conditions .
 

They're just not a thing in the Uk... when we have snow it's rare for it to last more than a few days at a time.. so it would be a real hassle to keep changing tyres... of course that means it's a bluddy nightmare driving on snow with impacted ice underneath...
 
My stepfather used chains during severe weather but he grew up with them.

I use studded snow tires but the majority of people that I know are content to slide around on the factory tires that come on new cars.

The vehicles and the main roads in this area are much better than they were when I was a kid.
 
I grew up living on a major avenue in the city that had a steady 24/7 vehicular traffic going both ways including trolley cars.

The problem with chains is that when you drive them over dry streets they would break and you would hear them swinging around and striking the wheel hub. So it had to be a very heavy snow accumulation to make them worth using. Rubber snow tires were a more realistic thing to put on your car for wintertime driving.

However, I was reminded of song, of course.

 
I lived high in the Cascade Mountains while growing up. This was before studded tires were invented. Chains were a fact of life for everyone during the winter. Most of our roads were graveled logging roads which were never plowed down to the gravel surface. Snow was even left on the few paved roads so people could leave their chains on while they went about their business.

There were snow tires (non-studded) available, some with sawdust included in the rubber mixture but in my locale chains served the drivers best.
 
I've lived in snow country most of my life, but the only place I ever used tire chains was in Alaska. Then it was for ICE, not snow. We drove a Toyota Landcruiser and I would only put them on when going into areas with steep, icy hills.

Winter driving is an acquired skill. ;)
 
Not living in snow country these days ā€¦ā€¦ although they are promising 3-4 inches of snow on the ground in Houston tomorrow.
First time for this amount of snow to happen since 1960.


Living my youth in NE Ohio, I remember so many snow events when storms blew across the Great Lakes . ā€¦ one was when I had to drive about 40 miles to work ā€¦ was taken by surprise one trip when the very heavy wet snow, in a whiteout, tore my windshield wipers off the car !! ... new car, new wipers.
Never forgot that nightmare.

There are so many degrees of snow. .. lol
 
Funny you should bring this up. Was watching a news segment last night showing our MTA putting chains on bus tires. Didn't know they still did that. As it turned out, not necessary: we hardly got any snow.
 

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