xmas is coming

[smiley]

Hi all

were thinking of going to Germany this year to one of their xmas markets. Question maybe lutz will jump in first..

Do we have to have winter tyres or not.. clearly we don't have any so this would effect us going in december.

thanks

 

[Lutz]

It depends what the weather is like. Contrary to other countries which have specific dates from when until when winter tyres have to be fitted, Germany only requires the tyre equipment to be "appropriate to suit the prevailing conditions". It's therefore up to you whether you want to take the risk of making do without winter tyres. Having said that, most of the xmas market locations you're likely to want to visit can be reached without a problem as the autobahns are usually well cleared of snow, should there be any and we haven't had much of that in the pre-Christmas period in recent years. It's difficult to give you a cut-and-dry answer concerning the risk as there's no telling what the weather will be like.

 

[smiley]

• Thanks Lutz

Just wanted to know if it was a legal requirement.

 

[Lutz]

Well, it is a legal requirement if we have a cold spell and you are involved in an accident. You would automatically be apportioned part of the blame and fined, even if you were otherwise acting correctly. Also, you could be fined if you were to hinder the flow of traffic through lack of wheel grip, especially if emergency services are not able to get through as a result. On the other hand, you can simply hope that the weather holds or neither of the two situations described occur. Your guess of the likelihood of a worst case scenario like that happening is as good as mine. I only mention this because some people prefer to err on the side of caution while others are prepared to take the odd risk. I must admit, I'd count myself in the latter, although I like to be able to make some sort of rough judgment of what my chances are.