Tire Chain Laws
The January 9-10 winter event in 2011 buried most of the American South in snow and ice. While this surprises some people outside the region, southern drivers know that there will be years when they must deal with icy winter conditions. When roads get slippery, they use the same things everybody else does to get traction: tire chains or cables (these are sets of cables that fit inside the wheel wells of some cars better than the bulky chains do, although they don’t work as well as chains or last as long).It’s not just passenger cars and light trucks on the move over Dixie highways during the winter months. There is also a lot of year-round interstate commercial truck traffic, since eight of the top ten busiest United States water ports are located in the region, as well as a number of passenger and freight air hubs, including major FedEx and UPS centers and hubs.When the weather gets cold and the roads icy, these truckers have to keep going, and they are also required to stay up to date on the snow chain laws of each state they will pass through during a haul. There is some variation in those laws, and here is an overview of state chain laws for trucks as well as private vehicles in the South.Tire chainsFlorida was the only state in the union without snow cover at one point in January 2011, and not surprisingly, it also has no snow chain laws. Kentucky may be at the other end of the spectrum, as it is the only southern state to specifically spell out requirements for tire chains: “[T]he cross chains shall be not more than three-fourths (3/4) of an inch in thickness or diameter, and shall be spaced not more than 10 inches apart, around the circumference of the tires” (Kentucky Revised Statutes, Chapter 189-190).
Most of the other southern states have rather general wording in their snow chain laws that allows “tire chains of reasonable proportions” on any vehicle “when required for safety because of snow, ice, or other conditions tending to cause a vehicle to skid.”
In Maryland, chains are required on any route where a snow emergency has been declared. Truckers in Tennessee must carry at least one set of chains when traveling a route where they are likely to encounter conditions requiring them, while in Virginia, although the use of tire chains isn’t required by law, you can be fined if you end up blocking traffic because you didn’t use them.In West Virginia, chains must meet standards set by the commissioner of highways, but the law forbids the commissioner from using this authority to prohibit the use of studded tires or chains in the state.Studded tiresNo southern state limits the dates when tire chains may be used, but some do have such laws for studded tires. The state of Missouri—the only state in the region besides Florida with no tire chain laws at all—does ban studded tire use from April 1st to November 1st. Maryland bans them completely, only excepting Allegany County, Carroll County, Frederick County, Garrett County, and Washington County between November 1st and March 31st.Arkansas allows studded tires on its roads between November 15th and April 15th. Tennessee has a slightly longer season for studded tire use, from October 1st to April 15th, and West Virginia sets its dates from November 1st to April 15th. In addition, a few states set weight limits for vehicles using studded tires.Perhaps this hodgepodge of different dates when studded tires are legal, as well as the varied driving conditions likely to be encountered during a southern winter, have contributed to the drop in the use of studded tires by average drivers. Winter tires today use materials soft enough to be reliable most of the time without studs. Sometimes, though, even in the Deep South, driving conditions can require a traction boost.Whether you are a trucker or just the average passenger driver, it is always a messy, time-consuming business to chain up. Almost every winter in the South, though, and especially in the mountains and other vulnerable areas, it is needed. There doesn’t have to be a widespread event like the one in January 2011 that left 8 inches of snow on the ground in Louisiana and up to 1 inch of ice in parts of South Carolina. It might just be a cold snap or a little dusting of snow at higher elevations. Whatever the case, Southern drivers know the routine as well as the rest of us do, and snow chain laws in the South ensure that their use is always safe and effective.Sources/further information:
Comparison of United States' snow chain legal status. Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association. (PDF file)
Your state’s snow chain laws.ChainQuest.
How Tire Chains Work.eHow (video)
Which tires match my driving conditions?Walmart.com
National Weather Service:Shreveport, LA;Charleston, SC
Top 50 Water Ports by Tonnage: 2007 and 2008. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
