Milford chronicle., 1960-01-08
Safety Council News

Anyone can step on the brake of
an automobile and stop the wheels,
but it takes more. skill to stop the
car as well on snow or ice. This
was pointed out yesterday by J..
James Ashton, manager of the Del
aware Safety Council, who urged
the use of reinforced tire chains
for driving on ice and snow.
The worst winter driving condi-
tions probably are still ahead, and
it behooves motorists to realize
that it is only the traction of their
wheels that can stop an automo-
bile, no matter how good its brakes
are, he declared.
This is borne out, he said, by
scientific tests on the behavior of
winter tires and tire chains on both
snow and ice. conducted by the Ma
tfonal Safety Councils Committee
on Winter Driving Hazards. On ice
or snow even the best tires will
still skid, he said.
Tests of "winterized" tires by
the Committee have shown that
most of them give only slight i'm
provement, about % per cent, over
regular tires on ice. Some of the
mud-snow-type tires, however, give
up to 81 per cent improvement in
| loose snow or slush.
Neither type of tire. by itself,
even approaches the stop-and-go
safety performance offered by the
use of reinforced type tire chains,
Mr.. Ashton said. Much as the av-
erage driver dislikes to bother with
chains, he added, the Committee
now recommends modern tire
chains as the best help available to
drivers in deep snow or slick ice.
1.-THE Committees tests have
have shown that reinforced tire
chains reduce braking distances on
both snow and ice by half or more" "
the official said. Insofar as for
ward traction is concerned, the
tests show reinforced tire chains
will increase pulling or hill climb
ing ability 400 per cent on ice On
packed snow, such chains will out
pull a regular tire 313 per cent
better"
He added that some drivers had
come to distrust tire chains be-
cause of unsatisfactory past exper-
ience with the round wire link type
chains known as regular" chains,
which are not as effective on glare
ice as are reinforced chains.
However, regular chains do pro-
vide good stop-and-go traction on
snow, and to more limited ex-
tent, on ice. While regular chains
do give 231 per cent better pull
ing traction on ice, their resistance
to side skids, however, is relative
ly poor on ice when compared with
that of reinforced chains.
"The reinforced type of tire
chain, in which each link in the
cross chain is reinforced by pro-
jecting teeth or c1eats, is not only
very effective in reducing braking
distances, and increasing forward
traction, but tests show it is also
effective in preventing 'fishtailing'
and side skids, even on glare ice, -
Mr.. Ashton said.
The Committees tests have
shown that reinf fore tire
same stopping ability available on
dry pavement at a speed of SO
miles an hour, the speed with re-
inforced tire chains must be no
greater than about 25 miles an
hour on glare ice, and 35 miles an
hours on hard packed snow. With
out chains the speed on ice, even
with "winterized" tires, must be
reduced to Is miles an hour, and
on snow, to about % miles an hour
Even these speeds, Mr.. Ashton
warned, are not safe under very
slippery conditions. They are mere
ly the speeds that will produce ap-
proximately the same braking dis
tance as that normally encountered
from speed of SO miles an hour on
dry pavement.