Like many Americans, I am fully convinced that our so-called "neighbors to the North" have designs on our country.
They have been ‘attacking’ America and the American way of life for so long, most people don’t even notice when those overly polite toque wearers launch another foray onto these shores.
First they started speaking regular English like us, then they started conquering our sports (like golf, baseball, basketball, football), then they brought those insidious Tim Horton’s stores to the U.S.
Now they want to turn our sense of smell against us!
Mood Media, a Canadian company, creates scents for retail stores designed to get people to buy more stuff. They have launched this aural attack in such retail shops as Timberland, Guess, Habitat and others with great success. "We’ve proved from our work in America that using the smell of grass cuttings in a DIY store, for example, encourages people to think about buying gardening equipment,” laughed the appropriately named Mood Media CEO Lorne Abony.
So what are we gonna see now, Canada? The scent of burning rubber to remind us its time for new tires? The smell of well-worn brake friction? A little eau de oil to set us up for those paralyzing oil changes?
Too bad we cannot harness that power for even greater good, like special scents to warn drivers when their tread is to thin, or the smell of horse droppings every time a carmaker tries to blame the tires.
Anyway, we’re on to you Canada. And we’re keeping a close nose on your every move!
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All kidding aside about our Canadian friends, a recent issue of Canadian Technician magazine included this column by editor David Menzies, with some wise words and ways to get Canadian drivers onto winter tires. Maybe there is a bright light bulb here for the U.S.
Time to Make Winter Tires Mandatory
And Another Thing – Can We Drop That ‘All-Season’ Moniker Already?
“I tend to get a little antsy when I hear that a politician wants to tinker with the Highway Traffic Act (or anything else that affects our day-to-day life, for that matter.) After all, just consider the two biggest lies uttered in the history of mankind: Number Two: “The cheque is in the mail”; and (insert drum roll here)
Number One: “Hi. I’m from the government. I’m here to help you.”
Even so, a private member’s bill recently introduced into the Ontario Legislature is something all reasonable people should get behind.
Bill Mauro, MPP for Thunder Bay-Atikokan, has introduced a motion calling on the insurance industry to reduce car insurance premiums for those drivers who use winter tires.
What’s not to love? Winter rubber functions far better than summer or all-season tires when that despicable coot, Old Man Winter, decides to take up residence. So why not give responsible motorists a break on their premiums?
There’s an added benefit: reduced insurance premiums for drivers embracing winter tires would help those consumers absorb the cost of such rubber.
In fact, a positive domino effect may occur here: increased use of winter tires would result in safer roads for everyone, something that would benefit insurance
companies if there are fewer accidents (or the collisions are less severe.)
A coalition of organizations promoting road safety, including the Canadian Automobile Association and the Ontario Trucking Association, has endorsed
Mauro’s motion. And the coalition has written to the leaders of all three provincial parties and to the CEO of the Insurance Board of Canada, asking for their support of the motion.
Certainly, the statistics make a profound case in favor of winter tires. Consider:
• Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation and Transport Canada have acknowledged that all-season tires can begin to lose their grip when the temperature drops below -10°C.
• Tests by Transport Canada and the Canadian Rubber Association found that all-season tires went off the testing track at speeds of only 40 to 50 km/h, while cars with winter tires had no difficulty.
• According to Quebec’s Ministry of Transportation, proper winter tires can improve braking by 25%.
• A 2005 study by the Canadian Press and Leger Marketing found that only 29% of Ontario drivers use winter tires. In contrast, the Canadian average was 42% and winter tire use in Quebec was 84%.
But why hit the brakes with just an insurance premium discount for motorists? Why doesn’t Ontario (and the other provinces) follow Quebec’s lead by making winter tires compulsory? After all, safety first, right?
And while we’re revamping policy when it comes to winter rubber, how’s this for an idea: truth in advertising. Simply put, wouldn’t it be great if all the tire manufacturers selling their wares in Canada stopped using the term “all-season tire” in these parts? Let’s refer to all-season tires with a more truthful descriptor: “three-season tires.”
Otherwise, aren’t the tire companies just creating confusion in the marketplace when it comes to the merits of winter rubber? (Put another way, how many times have you heard someone say: “I don’t need winter tires – I already have all-seasons.”?)
In the meantime, hopefully more jurisdictions will make winter tires compulsory. Such a move would be good for safety. And good for business.”
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Big congrats to Ronald and Donna Flickinger, owners of Talbert Tire Service in Somerset, Pa., on becoming the nation’s latest millionaires.
The Flickingers won $1.57 million in a recent Pennsylvania Lottery drawing. All it took was $10 in tickets for the big drawing.
Ron was the one who bought the tickets, and did it almost as an after thought. After not checking to see if he had the winning numbers, he heard people say that the big winning ticket had been sold at the exact convenience store he bought his tickets from.
He took his 10 tickets to the store, and it was the very last one in the pile that lit up the winner sign.
Ron told the local media that he plans to keep working, at least until someone makes his an offer for the shop that he just can’t refuse. Until then, Ron plans to keep playing the lottery…’cause you just never know!
