Further to our earlier blog post, “Do You Need Winter Tires In Victoria?”, we just wanted to share a letter from one of our Pacific Mazda customers. It really hits home when we are seeing the snow fly in Victoria. Winter tires may seem like an expensive investment but the added safety and peace of mind are worth it.
Many thanks to Donna for taking the time to write our Sales Associate, Jamie Elmhirst, this letter:
Hi Jamie,
After our winter tire conversation, I had winter tires for my Mazda 3 put on just over a week ago at your service shop.
Yesterday, I drove my 16 year old and two of his buddies up to Mount Washington. Apart from a bit of snow on the Malahat, conditions were great. Until just north of Qualicum Beach, in that 110 km an hour stretch between there and Cumberland. I was travelling along, when I watched a 4Runner in my rearview mirror, coming up fast behind me, spin completely out of control, bounce through the centre ditch to the oncoming lanes (thankfully not hitting anyone) and hit the ditch on the far side. Further along, I came across five vehicles stopped together, several of them ditched, including two four wheel drives ditched sideways, and a man slowing traffic and declaring ‘it’s a sheet of ice, be careful!’ We slowed to 70 but kept going. Before we got to the Mount Washington turnoff, we passed at least 10 more vehicles in the ditch. The entire stretch was scattered black ice patches which were very difficult to detect. I had no moments of spinning or sliding; my tires were fabulous.
My tires paid for themselves yesterday. Especially with not just my own son but with other people’s kids in my car. I just read a statistic from 2005 that only 28 percent of BC`ers buy winter tires. I don`t know if that number has changed much, but with the entire BC Interior in that statistic, it is likely a really low percentage for the Island. It might be hard to justify the cost (at $1000, not a small investment) but I now understand that it really makes a difference. It also seems that I couldn’t have planned for the conditions as there doesn`t seem to be a reliable `road conditions` website and I haven`t in fact seen any news coverage of how bad that stretch of road was yesterday.
I just thought I would share since it was our conversation about it that had me decide to buy the tires. Thanks so much!
Cheers,
Donna
**For more great Winter Driving information – check out these Winter Driving tips from the Ontario Government website. They have mare experience with winter driving conditions than we do here in BC 
