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(TGA) - My husband and I are leaving on Dec 23rd to start this journey. Overnight in NYC and then on to Montreal. 3 nights in Montreal and then overnight in Niagara Falls (Canada side) before we come back to Columbus, OH.

Most Driving will be done in daylight. He is very comfortable driving our Camry in the snow and we have all weather tires. I am worried about the road conditions in December and wondered if anyone had any advice.

Thanks,

Rae
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Hi Raecer416,

Ok so hubby feels comfortable with winter driving in snow… I gotta ask, is that based on Ohio Snow or Canada SNOW? There can be quite a difference. Except for the areas around Lake Erie, Ohio has a much milder climate than us. You typically see some snow, but mostly sleet, freezing rain and rain… none of which are fun I agree.

Our climate on the otherhand is much more extreme… Winter Driving here means the ability to deal with things like Blizzards – Snowstorms – Drifting Snow – Blowing Snow – White Outs – Sleet – Freezing Rain – Freaky Fog and Black Ice. Also most Canadians put on Winter Snow Tires (they are mandatory now in Quebec… as they have been proven to prevent accidents). Winter Tires are not the same as All-Season Tires… the latter lose their effectiveness at temperatures below 40 F… and well that is the kind of temps we see in the Fall not during our Winter (when it is always Freezing or a lot less… like -20). I just recently posted some info about the effectiveness of Winter Tires I have copied that here for your convenience:

== snip ==

Re - WINTER TIRE EFFECTIVENESS - as per the article in the *Ottawa Sun* (Sunday - November 22, 2009)

The original entry in the *Ottawa Sun* was a graph, but here is the info in words:

Vehicles were tested at 50 Km/h at -20C with 3 to 5 cm of compacted snow and ice on an asphalt surface. Vehicles were equipped with automatic transmission and anti-lock brakes. Tests in the 4-wheel drive vehicle were conducted in an all-wheel drive vehicle.

STOPPING DISTANCES:

SUB-COMPACT

Winter Tires = 39.1 Metres vs All-Season Tires = 50.7 Metres

MINIVAN

Winter Tires = 38.3 Metres vs All-Season Tires = 51.1 Metres

4-WHEEL DRIVE

Winter Tires = 35.7 Metres vs All-Season Tires = 42.8 Metres

I believe that the reasons for putting Winter Tires on a vehicle is pretty clear.

== end ==

Also as a general piece of info, we refer Travellers with Questions about Driving in Canada during the Winter to this TA CANADA – TRAVELLER ARTICLE entitled “Winter Driving” = /Canada:Winter.Driv…

All this aside, most of the time we go thru this whole winter driving info for those who are visiting from much warmer climates where they have no experience with snow whatsoever.

If your husband feels confident after reading the above articles, and is aware that driving here means the conditions can change very quickly, so that one requires a great deal of flexibility and patience (perhaps changing plans at the last minute) then I think he will be fine.

Cheers!

Wine-4-2
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Usually I agree completely with wine4-2 about Winter driving but in this case I will actually trust your husband. Anyway he can check all the things that she has provided but I just want to stress the fact that if Winter tires are mandatory in the province that, of course, do not apply to foreigners in their own vehicles and you get a waiver on that. So no problems with your car but if, by chance, you also have a set of Winter tires you should put them on but if you don't just drive safely with your all weather.
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