In terms of the UK market, this testing was very interesting. While the increases in winter tyre demand after 2009 in the market have been an encouraging sign that some drivers are waking up to the mobility advantages of different tyres in the winter months, it is easy to see how another mild winter such as the 2011/12 season could cool interest considerably.
Judging by the improvements yielded by fitting all-weather rubber instead of the usual summer tyre that the vast majority of Britons continue to operate in winter, it seems that the compromise could increase safety during the temperate British seasons, while also removing the short term cost of purchasing – and changing onto – a second set of tyres. And on the odd particularly harsh winter day, meaning only a few degrees under freezing in the British climate, the indication is that these tyres would vastly improve the safety, and even the viability, of travelling the UK’s road networks.