It’s one of those “66” days in Bend – 6 degrees on the thermometer and 6 inches of snow on the ground – so it seems like an appropriate time to talk about Central Oregonians’ stud fetish.
We’re not referring to pieces of metal stuck into one’s tongue, lip or other anatomical parts. We’re talking about studded tires.
Central Oregonians love their studs. Can’t live without ’em. Can’t wait to put ’em on in the fall. Hate to take ’em off in the spring.
People in most other parts of the country don’t have this strange stud fetish. The Eye had never seen or even heard of studded tires before moving to Oregon. And The Eye lived in some pretty snowy places on the East Coast for 30 years.
In Minnesota and Michigan, whose climate makes Central Oregon look like Palm Springs, studs have been banned since the 1970s. As far as we know, Minnesotans and Michiganders are not slaughtering each other on the highways in winter at any greater rate than Oregonians are.
Studs do severe damage to asphalt, which is why studded tires aren’t allowed during the warm months and why there are periodic efforts to ban them outright or to impose a tax to help pay for pavement repair. Those proposals never get anywhere, because Oregonians – especially those living east of the Cascades – are convinced they will face instant, bloody death if they don’t have their studs on every time there’s a trace of snow or ice on the pavement.
But the safety advantages of studs are debatable, at best. They don’t give any better traction on snow than a good set of studless winter tires provides. They’re somewhat better at stopping a vehicle on glare ice. But on bare or wet pavement – which, let’s face it, is what we have the great majority of the time – they actually have worse traction than studless tires. That’s because with studs, less rubber is in contact with the road.
According to the Washington Department of Transportation: “Under wet driving conditions the stopping ability of vehicles equipped with studded tires is actually reduced. Tire studs reduce the full contact between a tire’s rubber compound and the pavement. Research on studded tires consistently shows that vehicles equipped with studded tires require a longer stopping distance on wet or dry pavement than do vehicles equipped with standard tires.”
The best safety measure for driving in snow and ice is knowing how to drive in snow and ice – go slow, stay a safe distance behind other vehicles, make no sharp turns or sudden moves. (You can find good advice for safe winter driving here.)
This is pretty basic stuff. But watching the way people drive around Bend, we get the impression that most local drivers never bother to learn it. Maybe they think their studs make them invulnerable.
According to ODOT, the state spends about $11 million a year to repair studded tire damage. That’s $11 million that would be better spent elsewhere – especially considering that the safety value of studs is largely an illusion.
Oregon should ban studded tires – the sooner the better.
This article appears in Dec 18-24, 2008.
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Probably ban studs about the time we grow up and can pump our own gas!
I grew up in colorado and moved to maine. I wasn’t exposed to studs until I came here either. Of course, I wasn’t exposed to a city that can’t plow to save it’s life until I came here either. In Portland, Maine, a place which saw some whoppers of storms while I was there, the streets were clear the day after. Not the main arteries…not the state highways…every road. Including residential.
Colorado wasn’t as good at plowing, but much better at sanding. As much as I dig Bend, I currently feel the need to have studs, because the three streets I need to drive on to get out to a main artery are glaze ice for most of the winter because of lack of plowing, sanding, and being in the shade all the time. I’d gladly give up my studs for some decent snow removal/sand.
As usual the illusion is in Bruce’s mind. Maybe the Eye could interview our local law enforcement agencies to get their drift on the situation.
They would agree about driving smart as a number one defense. But when it comes to studs I believe that they all use studded tires on their emergency vehicles. The city of Bend even puts them on legally before the legal date for use by the average citizen. A number of years ago (in the 1980’s) OSP tried stud less tires. I presume that their experience was less joyful than the Eye’s since they have since returned to studded tires.
Personally I have tried both stud and stud less winter tires on both two and all wheel drive vehicles. My experience has been that the studded tire is far more effective on the frequently changing and varied conditions that our region experiences.
Besides I would rather give the eleven million to local Oregonians to repair our roads than to our bail out nation. Though if we went to salting the roads like Minnesotans and Michiganders we would need new vehicles more frequently thus helping our big three friends more discreetly.
I never ran studs in Alaska or here. Good tires do just fine. Good article. Hopefully people will quit wasting their money on junk.
Thank you for your write up. I have always felt this way. I grew up in Bend and we have never needed studs and the winters used to be a lot worse. Not intell people moved here that did not know how to drive in adverse conditions did studs become such an issue.
“But when it comes to studs I believe that they all use studded tires on their emergency vehicles.”
I don’t know about that, but the other day I saw a Bend PD patrol car driving along Bond Street with chains on.
“Personally I have tried both stud and stud less winter tires on both two and all wheel drive vehicles. My experience has been that the studded tire is far more effective on the frequently changing and varied conditions that our region experiences.”
I have studless winter tires on my car, which has all-wheel drive and ABS, and find they’re just as effective as studs. I guess it’s a matter of subjective impressions. But the objective research shows that studs are more effective only on glare ice, and that on bare or wet pavement your stopping distance is increased with studs.
this is les shwab country people,and the land of the LIFT..studs work ive done both,on 4×4 alot,and they just work better,,,or maybe the ugly insurance company’s are backing the accidents that happen when you cant stop.were not idiots we;ve tried both,our roads need the rocks at major intersections at least.dont be cheap..what comes around goes around,weeeeee…
“or maybe the ugly insurance company’s are backing the accidents that happen when you cant stop.”
???????????
How the hell do you figure insurance companies MAKE money from accidents???
The reason they don’t need studs back east, or up north is that they salt the roads, and generally manage to keep them clear. Around here the snow just piles up and gets packed down with narry a plow in sight. Keep the roads clear and ban studs, I’d be fine with that.
I have lived here over four years and I have always ran studless traction tires. I grew up in the snow and I have never had a problem with my traction tires. I can’t stand the noise of the studs. I think that they should be banned as well. The problem isn’t with the tires but the drivers. Not everyone knows how to drive in the stuff. They think that if they have four wheel drive and studs so they can go the speed limit. The speed limit is for good weather.
I live in Moscow, Russia and they allow studs here. No time restrictions (can have them all year round if you want). Moscow is usually a bit warmer / less snowy than Bend, but the weather is very similar. Right now there’s no snow on the ground, temperatures are in the 20s in the daytime, high teens at night.
In Russia they make you put a sign in your back window if you have studded tires. It’s shaped like a red triangle around the first letter of the Russian word for “studs.” The theory is that studs kick up more rocks and dirt from the road and other drivers need to be warned.
People here don’t really think about the road damage angle. Roads in Moscow are well-maintained (probably somewhat better than Bend roads) but outside the city they are very bad. So bad that people don’t really think it’s a “studs vs. no studs” problem.
The plowing here is amazing and very efficient. As you might imagine, Russians are pretty good at snow removal. They have different kinds of plows that we don’t have in the USA. One is like a crab, with big brooms that reach out to the curb and sweep snow into the “mouth” in the center and then up-and-over into a dump truck bed. This one prevents the big snowplow berms that block us into our driveways in Bend.
They invest a lot of money in labor too. It starts way before dawn. Later in the winter, they have crews of guys who come out with big metal spikes to break up the really nasty, hard ice that builds up. Those guys fan out in Bobcats and then take the ice to a centrally located dump truck. They have other guys on Chinese-made tractors with PTO-powered brooms behind them that drive along and sweep the sidewalks and footpaths.
One thing they do in snow removal in Russia that they don’t in Oregon is they actually REMOVE the snow. As opposed to pushing it around, as they do in Bend. Instead of shoving it around into berms and ridges, they load it into dump trucks and take it outside the city. They don’t use salt or cinders here on the roads – it’s a kind of chemical-treated sand that ruins leather shoes.
In Bend and Oregon overall the problem is that snow removal is too expensive and inefficient. The guys who do it are City employees making $50K each a year with benefits – these are guys who get paid overtime in a big storm too, and guys who don’t like getting up at 2:30 a.m. every day during a period of extended snowfall. There are very few trucks, and only one type: a plow/sander. Once you’ve seen the array of snow removal equipment they have in other countries, you realize that having only plow/sanders is like a builder having only a hammer.
Studs are simply for people that lack winter driving skills, and intelligence. Take the studs off, put the Starbucks and cell phone down, and learn how to drive!
The problem here isn’t the studs.
The problem here is the area’s complete inability to create safe driving conditions on the roads, and its determination that human safety isn’t worth spending money on.
This article points out that studs aren’t in use in other parts of the country. Know what else isn’t in use? LAVA ROCK!
It’s a completely useless “solution”. It works for about half a day, at which point all it’s good for is turning the snow(and our cars) a reddish brown color. The only advantage to it is it’s cheap.
Know what Utah uses to combat snow and icy roads? A potassium spray that goes on before the adverse weather, and keeps ice or snow from accumulating on it for a full week. It’s non-toxic, ridiculously effective, and increases safety. The only downside? It’s a little pricey.
Know what Michigan uses? Salt. Also effective, except it rusts out your cars.
The East coast? It varies but it’s usually a saline spray. It “sort of” rusts out cars, but not nearly as bad as rock salt. It’s also highly effective.
Places like Denver? They use gravel. It doesn’t work all that well, and has a habit of dinging up the cars…but it lasts a long time, it’s reusable, and it’s certainly more effective than the lava rock out here.
And then you have central Oregon. We use that stupid red rock because it’s everywhere. The argument shouldn’t be that we should stop using studs. The argument should be that we start demanding our cities implement road safety solutions that work.
Why doesn’t the state spend some of that money on plows so we wouldn’t need to use studs. I can’t believe that, with the amount of money we have in this town, I will have a six inch pack of snow on all my streets until Mother Nature decides to melt it.
Ridiculous. If there is no grade where you live, studs are not required. However, tons of us live “on grade” here at the edge of the cascades.
It is impossible for me or anyone else who’s driveway is on a 20% grade to make it up the hill without 4WD and studs, under certain conditions. Assuming I want to safely park in my garage, studs are required. Maybe the places you mentioned are not mountainous (we used studs in Colorado too).
Even one life ended by a guy who slides through the stop sign at 12th and Portland is probably worth (accuarily speaking) close the $11M figure for road repair. And I’ve seen dozens of people side through (and hundreds more who can’t move up the hill).
The guy who totaled my car had 4WDdrive and no studs. He crossed right over on a bend in the road and broadsided me… Should I pay extra for NOT crushing other people and their cars?
You don’t “need” studs, even if you live “on the grade”, as you like to call it. You also don’t need 4 wheel drive.
What you need is a road crew that actually does its job and clears the roads. There’s presently 4 inches of packed snow on every street near where I live because the city is too cheap to clean it up.
Our great councilers were too busy renaming a bridge and dumping money into a useless bus system to properly budget for snow removal.
Jed, since you’re so big on personal responsibility, why don’t you get out there and shovel the roads for yourself?
Merry Christmas!
I do not snivel about the condition of the roads. I have lived here all my life and learned to drive a properly equiped vehicle that can handle the road conditions.
Seems our little ice age turned into a swimming pool.
Climate Change Deniers / Studded Tire Consumers, Suck. On. This. A careful examination of fifty-something years of living here reveals that in the past twelve years it has snowed here exactly twice a winter. You tire studders… ahhh, “clam diggers” doesn’t quite translate… are a menace, a threat to the public safety.
Your drivers’ licenses and motor vehicles should be impounded.
“A careful examination of fifty-something years of living here reveals that in the past twelve years it has snowed here exactly twice a winter.”
I’ve only lived here for 23 years but it definitely is less snowy now than it was in the mid-1980s. You’re right — we get appreciable amounts of snow here in Bend once or twice a winter … maybe.