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West Kelowna  

Police check winter tires


RCMP were stopping motorists along Highway 97C, Thursday, to check if their vehicles were properly equipped for winter driving conditions.

As of Oct. 1 all vehicles travelling on specific B.C. highways must have winter tires.

Const. Steve Holmes says police are hoping to educate the public about using proper winter tires and driving to the conditions as the snow begins to fall.

“They must have tires that are sufficient, and that would be tires with the snowflake and mountain symbol or the M and S on the sidewall,” he explains. “They must also have a minimum tread depth of 3.5 mm across the surface of the tire.”

While the RCMP’s primary goal is to educate drivers, those who may not have the proper winter tires or bald tires could face penalties.

“There is a fine for a defective vehicle or a vehicle not properly equipped which means it does not have what we are looking for and what has been legislated, so that can be a $109 fine,” says Holmes.

For drivers wanting to check the tread depth on their vehicles, Tim Hildebrand, a tire technician at Kal Tire, has a simple test that can be done.

“If you stack four dimes together that would be about the depth of the tread and that would be a good indicator that they should not be used for another winter,” says Hildebrand.

If the tread is worn down, the tire will not be able to displace the snow, slush or water effectively enough to keep the vehicle's grip on the roadway during winter conditions.

He goes on to explain there are four different winter tires that are considered acceptable.

“We recommend a true winter tire and that is a tire that has the severe service emblem, the mountain snowflake symbol,” he says. "There is a studded winter tire, a stud-less winter tire and an all weather tire, and all three of those tires are going to have the mountain snowflake; and then there is an all-season tire or an M and S tire."

Although the snow has yet to fall in the valley, both Holmes and Hildebrand have the same message for drivers, ‘don’t wait until the snow falls or it’s too late to get your winter tires on your vehicle’.



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