HGV drivers travelling in European international traffic in winter must be prepared for the winter tyre regulations - which are not always consistent.Some countries require drivers to have a shovel and a bag of sand in the vehicle, while others expect you to have snow chains. To avoid possible problems, it is worth checking the rules for the current regulations for the winter of 2022-2023.
Depending on the country, there are different timeframes and situations when winter tires must be used on one or more axles of the HGV.
Tire manufacturer Continental has published its 2022 summary of winter tire requirements in the following 39 European countries:
Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine.
Some countries have set a date from when winter tire usage is mandatory, in other countries it depends on the weather and the situation.
Bear in mind that in some countries, winter tires are mandatory from 1 November. Such countries include Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland and France.
In other countries, like Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Bulgaria, the first day of the mandatory usage of winter tires is 15 November.
Also, depending on the country and situation, drivers can use either non-studded or studded winter tires, or all-season tires.
Safe winter tires, both non-studded and studded, bear the snowflake symbol (also known as the 3PMSF or 3-Peak-Mountain-SnowFlake marking), which is increasingly replacing the current winter tire marking (M+S).
Today, the M+S marking is not sufficient anymore in countries such as Germany and the Nordic Countries, where the legal definition of a mandatory winter tire is the Snowflake symbol.
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Published by : Peter Maďoran
