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Poll: Most Vancouver drivers don't change their tires ahead of winter

Others changed to winter tires sometime after the requirement came into place.
snow-cars-vancouver
Many Vancouver drivers polled that they don't change their tires, driving with only either summer or winter tires. (File photo)

A heavy snowstorm swept through Vancouver Tuesday night (Nov. 29), causing chaos on the roads and long bus delays.

That night, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) recorded 3,567 motor vehicle accident claims which is 150 per cent higher than average.

Despite warnings of snowfall, many Vancouver drivers were unprepared for a snowy commute. 

Just over 35 per cent of Vancouver respondents to a Vancouver Is Awesome poll said that they don't change their tires, driving with only either summer or winter tires. 

B.C.'s winter tire requirments came into place on Oct. 1, yet only 12 per cent of local drivers changed to winter tires at that time.

Another 24 per cent of Vancouverites changed to winter tires between late October and early November, and nearly 23 per cent changed to winter tires in November. 

Around five per cent said, after the snowstorm had already blown by, that they will be changing to winter tires soon. 

Vancouver Is Awesome polled 758 Vancouver Is Awesome readers and asked the question: When did you change your tires to winter tires this year?

The poll ran from 11/30/2022 to 12/3/2022. Of the 758 votes, we can determine that 361 are from within the community. The full results are as follows:

When winter tire requirements came into place on October 1 12.19 % local, 14.12 % total    
Between late October and early November 24.10 % local, 26.52 % total    
In November 22.71 % local, 20.98 % total    
I'm changing to winter tires soon 5.54 % local, 5.15 % total    
I don't change my tires (always summer or winter tires) 35.46 % local, 33.25 % total    
  Local   Total

Results are based on an online study of adult Vancouver Is Awesome readers that are located in Vancouver. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 3.56%, 19 times out of 20.

Vancouver Is Awesome uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.