Mandatory snow tires debate put on ice, Nova Scotia says

The debate over mandating snow tires in Nova Scotiahas been puton ice, and more research on the issue isn't planned until next year, says the province.

It's no coincidence that Halifax drivers tend to raise the question after snowstorms like this week's. They are the most likely in the province to encounter vehicles without winter tires, according to provincial statistics.

On Wednesday morning's post-snowstorm commute, traffic was held up on the Macdonald Bridge after a collision between a car and a bus, neither of which had snow tires, according to Halifax Harbour Bridges.

Other drivers reported that cars using all-season tires were having trouble getting up Halifax hills, delaying those behind them.

• 5 things you need to know about tires in winter

In 2011, the last year Nova Scotians were surveyed about winter tires, 87 per cent of people in the eastern part of the province were using them, and 85 per cent in the northern region.

In the Halifax area, only 79 per cent of people were using four winter tires.

The numbers were slightly higher in the region west of Windsor, with 80 per cent winter tire usage.

The data came from telephone interviews with 1,447 people across the province and was provided to CBC by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.

It showed that winter tire usage had gone up about three percentage points across all districts in a single year, from 2010 to 2011.

Too expensive for some drivers

The province stopped asking the question in subsequent surveys, though it plans to ask again in 2016, said Brian Taylor, spokesman for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal.

"This is something that certainly we grapple with," GeoffMacLellan, the transportation minister, saidon Thursday.

No question, winter tires increase safety for people in the vehicle, but there's a significant cost and we that feel it's too heavyhanded to tell people that they have to spend money on their vehicle," he said.

That's a decision that they're going to make themselves and we hope that people who can afford it will do that, but we're not going to impose it on Nova Scotians."

The province hasn't studied whether cost is a factor for the minority who aren't using winter tires, said Taylor.

There's no data on how many winter collisions involve vehicles without snow tires. Halifax Regional Police don't make note of tire type when they respond, except for rare cases when they issue tickets for bald tires.

Collisions in which one party loses control of a vehicle aren't considered driving violations, and there's no ticket issued, said police spokesman Cst. Pierre Bourdages.

Insurance discounts for some drivers

Insurance companies don't collect information on snow tires, said a spokeswoman from the Insurance Bureau of Canada. Some insurers offer a discount to customers who install them, but many people don't take advantage of that, said Celyeste Power.

Nova Scotians and other Maritimers are ahead of most Canadians in making snow tires a habit, according to a poll last year by the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada.

Outside of Quebec, where snow tires are mandatory, the association found that only about half of drivers use them. The Atlantic-wide numbers were well below what the transportation department found, showing that 73 per cent of Atlantic drivers use snow tires.

Next was Ontario at 56 per cent and Alberta at 45 per cent.