Studded tyres can be dangerous. Twenty-five people die because of them every year only in Stockholm according to Dagens nyheter.
It is compulsory to have winter tyres from December 1 to March 31 and they are legal from October 1 to April 30. Some car owners go one step further and use studded winter tyres in order to increase their safety on the roads.
When there is no snow on the roads the studded winter tyres causes damages on the roads and stirs up particles. These particles are fatal for humans in large concentrations. Some parts of Stockholm do not meet the EU standard about the quality of the air.
Sankt Eriksplan, one of the places in Stockholm with heavy traffic. (Photo: Tommie Ullman)
Seventy percent of the cars in Stockholm use studded tyres in winter.
-I am convinced that we would be on the right side of the EU limits for particles if we got rid of them, says Christer Jansson, docent at Stockhlm University to Dagens nyheter.
If we also count people who have health problems which are only partly caused by the particles from stubbed tyres, the number of deaths might be much higher writes DN. The particles add togehether with other discharges from the traffic.