Ah, Quebec. Beautiful women, beautiful city, fantastic food. But there is a dark side. No, not poutin and steamies. We're talking about the language police! Answer your phone incorrectly, write something in English more than 50 percent the size of the equivalent French phrase or – worst of all – if you forget to bother with French at all, it's off with your head an annoying fine. Joining the Québécois language police are a new group of cops – the tire police.
Basically, according to Wired, if you, a Quebec resident, drive between December 15 and March 15 on all-season tires, you get hit with a $300 fine. But what if you have all-wheel drive? Low gears and a transfer case? A Hummer H1? It doesn't matter. No snow tires = a $300 lighter wallet within the province of Quebec.
There is a bit of rationale behind this law. Fully 90 percent of drivers in Quebec have historically fitted snow tires to their rides anyhow. And it is estimated that the 10 percent that doesn't bother causes 38 percent of the winter accidents. Quite disproportionate, no? But really, this shouldn't come as any shock. Snowy conditions require winter tires. If this does come as a shock to you, check our recent feature on winter tires. And... uh, stay out of Quebec if you're still rollin' on summer meats.
