for those in the snow belt, be careful

Studded tires are great... until you get rear-ended by the doofus who doesn't have them and who thinks that his 4wd will stop him on ice.

 

I wish studded tires were legal in MN

 

What would be better if there was a law that everyone had to have winter rated tires from mid Nov until mid March in any province or State that gets x amount of snow

Quebec has that law

 

I believe that wear and tear on the freeways is the reason they are not. So MN uses a LOT of salt instead. But you can drive with studded tires in Minnesota if your car is registered and licensed in North Dakota.

 

Brakes stop the wheels, not the vehicle. Interesting that no one carries or uses chains. These "accidents" are deliberate by driver ignorance.

 

Too complicated. I might have to change political affiliations to qualify for citizenship, or possibly even attend church. The image of being turned to a pillar of salt comes to mind, so it's probably best to buy snow tires in Minneapolis.

 

Oh, come now! Lots of North Dakotans are not religious nut jobs. They typically split their ballots, voting for a Repub prez and a Dem congressman & senators. The governorship has gone back and forth. The the small town I lived near had a Republican grocery store and a Democratic grocery store. The town was split pretty evenly. And as an atheist socialist they never once threatened to lynch me. And you are allowed to use studded tires in winter. The only really bad thing is that the blue laws have all been repealed. Even as an atheist, I liked the idea of all stores being closed on Sundays. But that's gone. The only advantage MN has anymore is that funny accent.

 

Back in the late eighties, we had a brand new Range Rover. While skiing in Lake Tahoe and on our way to Harrah's, we descended a hill thinking we were in a Range Rover, with the most advanced full time 4WD at the time so not to woryy. As soon as we started going down, the RR skidded right through the intersection all the way down to the bottom. Fortunately the road was wide and we did not hit other cars. I decided to put the chains on all 4 wheels right then and there and had no problems thereafter.

 

That, and having telephones & the internet. Although to be fair, we hear the underground missile silos are pretty nice. Ever sneak into the opposing grocery store for a cheap thrill? Sort of like having that black wrought-iron fence dividing cemeteries between the Lutherans & the Catholics: Sometimes the grass is greener, but we risk suffering a strike by lightning.

Parts of Washington, on the other hand, seem quite progressive. Chains seem, I do not know, sort of butch to me -- but studs on roadways are always good. Obviously I'd fit right in.

 

Uh...what? Are you serious? Even shopping for groceries has become a political statement? I knew things were bad in your country, but I didn't know the sickness had become quite so pervasive.

 

Just in North Dakota.

 

That happened last winter. The doofus was driving a ricer with high performance SUMMER tires of all things. Slid into me at a red light, trashed his front end pretty good and scratched my trailer hitch.

I probably should repaint the darn trailer hitch

Since my FJ is primarily rear wheel drive, I also carry around 500 lbs of sand bags in the rear cargo area. Combine weight with studded winter tires, and I NEVER use 4H on public roads

At a green light, I easily blow the doors of awd and 4wd vehicles running "all season" tires. They sit there spinning and are soon a speck in my rear view mirror

But if conditions are very bad, especially icy, i just stay home. I get sick and tired of swerving out of the way of an out of control 4wd vehicle

 

+1. I do that at least once a winter. That is usually the first snowfall.

 

We had telephones, courtesy of Polar Rural Telephone Mutual Aid Corporation, a co-op.

When I was there, the silos were still all occupied by missiles, and they put you in jail if you went inside the fence. North Dakota jails are very civilized.

It was not until after I moved to Mexico to study Spanish that half the missiles were moved to another state (Wyoming or Montana, I think) and I don't know what if anything was done with the empty silos.

Well, the owners welcomed anybody. But Republicans patronized the Republican owner and Democrats patronized the Democratic owner. Back in the day when the post office was run by patronization, the post office moved back and forth between the two stores, depending on which party held the presidency, and the store owner of the corresponding party was the town's postmaster.

My landlord was the son of the Democratic store owner, so I shopped in that store. But in addition, that store had fresher produce.