During the winter 1993/94, the Swedish National Road Administration received considerable criticism for its winter maintenance and in particular for the high consumption of road salt. This led to discussions on changing the rules for winter maintenance, allowing a little ice/snow on the road and more roads with ice/snow were to be permitted. In addition, certain changes intended to influence vehicle equipment and driver behaviour were to be studied. The purpose of the investigation described here is to calculate the socio-economic consequences that may be expected from a requirement on winter tyres in various circumstances. The study started with a calculation of the socio-economic consequences that may be expected from a ban of studded tyres. That calculation was made to compare with earlier calculations. In this speech that result is transformed into the effect of the use of winter tyres in the winter compared to if all cars used summer tyres. The calculations were made for winter 1993/1994 and for winter 1999/2000. The conditions in winter 1993/1994, a fairly normal winter, form the basis for the calculations. The conditions in 1999/2000 are the same except for the assumptions that all those using studded tyres then will be using lightweight studs and that wear resistant pavements will be more common. All other factors, such as winter maintenance, will be the same as in 1993/1994. (A)
Abstract