Well its studded winter tires of course! News flash: studded tires have been known to cause ruts in pavement and concrete roads since the 1970's. That's right, for over 40 years, Public Works departments from all over North America have known that studded tires causes millions of dollars of damage to roads that taxpayers then have to pay to have repaired. Studded tires were introduced in 1962. By 1972, numerous jurisdictions started to ban their use because of the accelerated damage being caused. Check my sources, I dare ya.
Numerous scientific studies have been conducted on North American roads that have concluded two very important and indisputable facts. 1. Studded tires grind out ruts in pavement and concrete. Sure Consumer Reports won't even test studded tires because of the damage it would cause their test track! 2. Studded tires have a net negative effect on traction. That's right, studded tires actually reduce over all traction.
How can that be? Studded tires are useful for only one single condition: smooth ice at temperatures near 0°C. For all other conditions, studded tires are proven to have either reduced or equal traction to a mid-range set of studless winter tires. For that one condition that studded tires do improve traction? Well out of the 150 days of the year you are allowed to wear studded tires (in this province), that condition exists for about 5 of those days. Thats 3% of the time you are using your studded tires, you have an edge over someone who isn't using studded tires. for 97% of the rest of the time, your traction is no better, and much of the time, even worse than studies tires.
The most tractive force is obtained when rubber meets pavement cleanly. Studs on pavement reduces the amount of rubber reaching the surface of the road. This is especially hazardous on wet roads since water greatly reduces traction, now further reduced even more with studs preventing rubber making contact with the road surface.
Rebuttal?
Ruts are caused by heavy trucks pushing down the pavement.
LOL! This is by far the most ignorant and apologetic of lines that come from studded tire defenders. And it is the easiest to debunk. First, the ruts are clearly being caused by vehicles of the most common wheelbase, passenger cars. Big rig trucks wheel bases do not match, not even a little. Also, Transport trucks use dual rear wheels to distribute the load. So if it was being caused by overweight commercial trucks, there would be 4 ruts in the pavement, not 2. Lastly, the ruts form over concrete bridges on both concrete and asphalt. If the ruts were caused by pavement being pushed down by weight, well it wouldn't happen on concrete, or on asphalt applied onto concrete.
Also, I've been to Ontario. Their pavement is actually SOFTER than ours, and sees much much more traffic than our roads. While I haven't spoken to the engineers here or in Ontario on their respective road construction practices, and given the 10 times the amount of traffic, I'm unconvinced our roads are constructed that badly.
Sources!
1. Bridgestone: Studded vs Studless
2. Popular Mechanics Magazine, November 1971; This Year Your Studded Snow Tires May Be Illegal!
3. Oregon Department of Transportation, December 2000; Analysis of Pavement Wear and Cost Mitigation
4. Washington State Transportation Centre, October 2002; Overview of Studded and Studless Tire Traction and Safety
5. TireRack.com, September 2009; Winter Testing at the Arctic Circle
The worst part about studded tires are the sense of false security they give people who use them. They think because they have studs on their tires, they don't need to drive as defensively in winter because their tires will keep them safe. I bet these are the same people clamoring for these fancy collision detection systems in vehicles so they don't even have to pay attention to what's around them anymore because their vehicles will tell them.
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