I live in a walkable inner ring Chicago suburb, and commute to work by bike or the El. Snow cleanup is excellent in our suburb, and we can get to things we want to drive to in bad weather on roads where the speed limit is never over 25 mph.
We just don’t need winter tires.
Very interesting how different the approach is. Many European countries mandate Winter tyres for a period each year, even if they do not get much snow - https://www.uniroyal-tyres.com/car/tyre-guide/winter-care/wi.... The mindset is more that if there could be snow, drivers must use Winter tyres, even when road clean-up and salting are used.
Many countries here that do not mandate Winter tyres for the whole season still mandate tyres appropriate for driving conditions, which reads a lot like a requirement to use Winter, studded, or chained tyres in snow. Most countries like that also recommend Winter tyres.
It's a very different approach from having many people not use Winter tyres in snow. I think this explains the fear of driving in snow to me. I would be very concerned if I had to drive in snow with Summer tyres as well.
Why? I have all season tires and they work fine enough when it does snow but I also don’t drive much.
When I looked into getting winter tires, I saw they generally last 60,000 miles or 6 years whatever comes first and since I only drive like 5,000 miles a year, that means I’d have to replace 2 sets of tires every 6 years instead of 1.
If I drove 20,000 miles a year though I’d definitely get them.
You are talking about whether these tyres make sense. In many countries in Europe, this is not a question. It is mandated. I agree with your reasoning from an economic perspective, of course.
