character
Member Since: 31 Dec 2007
Location: wiltshire
Posts: 5781
  
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| M+S tyres compulsory for Germany |
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M+S tyres compulsory for Germany
No, this isn't Marks & Spencer moving into the tyre business. It is a change to German traffic regulations meaning that all from Saturday 4 December, all trucks over 3.5 tonnes and buses with more than eight seats must use Mud and Snow (M+S) drive axle tyres on roads covered with ice, hard-packed snow or slush. This applies to domestic vehicles and foreigners visiting or crossing the country. German tyre-maker Continental welcomes the move that says clarifies the law by defining which tyres are suitable for winter and when to use them. The firm says all its drive axle tyres are M+S rated and marked. It also says winter-marked tyres such as its Scandinavia range used on all axles will give even greater safety on winter roads.
taken from SMMT email news letter dated 7th Dec 2010
In light of the weather, bet yer we are soon to have the same legislation over here 
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 7th Dec 2010 11:53 pm |
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grzesiul
Member Since: 11 May 2008
Location: UK
Posts: 6343
  
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we will as it is being worked on as EU wide motion soon to be implemented
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| 8th Dec 2010 12:08 am |
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Ted Newman
Member Since: 09 Oct 2010
Location: SE London
Posts: 840
 
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The laws have been hardened BUT should not be too difficult for Disco drivers to comply with:-
New rules for Winter Tyres
A new law in Germany has tightened the rules on the types of tyres that you can use in winter.
Until now, the law only said that you had to have “suitable†tyres for the road conditions, but did not actually specify that you had to have winter tyres on in winter. Indeed, many people with good tread on their summer tyres continued to use them throughout the winter, and would probably argue that they were suitable as long as the main roads were clear.
The trouble was, that unless they caused an accident, the police were as good as powerless to argue against them, so the politicians were under pressure to amend the law to get things clarified.
Unfortunately, they made quite a mess of it.
For a start, they only agreed on it at the end of November, giving many people only a few days to change the tyres on their cars before it came into effect.
It would not have been so bad, if it wasn’t for the fact that the first snow was already on the ground. At that is still part of the problem – the new rules still only apply for particular road conditions, ie. when there is snow, ice, slush, black ice, and a number of other variants of frozen water on the ground.
The M+S symbol
But the real problem is going to be the types of tyres that are allowed. These have been defined as tyres showing the “M+S†logo. M+S stands for “mud and snow†(or Matsch und Schnee in German), and the use of it on tyres is not standardised.
So apparently there are winter tyres available, that offer better grip on snow than many of the ones with the M+S Logo, but do not themselves have it on them. Likewise, there are summer tyres that do have M+S on them, because the manufacturer has decided that they can be used in winter – and in other countries very possibly they are.
Another form of the M+S symbol, note the snow flake next to it showing the tyre adhers to the NHTSA traction standard for snow and ice
Not having the logo on your tyres means that you can be fined 40EUR (unless, of course, you just don’t use the car!) or 80EUR if you cause an obstruction to traffic as a result.
It is also worth noting that foreign cars are not exempt of the law, so if you visit Germany during the winter, you may need to check the symbols on your tyres. However, if you do fit winter tyres to your car in the UK, just make sure that your insurance does not charge you extra for the privilege.
This post has been edited by the site administration team
merged LR Discovery 4 XS pulling an Airstream 532 Caravan also own (since new) a 1996 MGF
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| 19th Dec 2010 4:15 pm |
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countrywide
Member Since: 16 Sep 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 6019
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If it is over 3.5T, then it won't affect cars will it.
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| 19th Dec 2010 6:21 pm |
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Ted Newman
Member Since: 09 Oct 2010
Location: SE London
Posts: 840
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countrywide wrote:If it is over 3.5T, then it won't affect cars will it.
YES it affects all vehicles - it is just that it never used to affect LKW - over 3.5 tonnes, now they also have to comply BUT only on their driven axles. LR Discovery 4 XS pulling an Airstream 532 Caravan also own (since new) a 1996 MGF
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| 19th Dec 2010 8:11 pm |
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