I am sure there are people still on the fence or completely unconvinced about the value of winter tires. The following story should help:
I was driving to Kinsgton from Montreal on Friday (Feb 7). If you recall, there was one hell of a snow storm happening at that time. There were several jackknifed trucks on the 20/401, ALL of them heading east. In other words from Ontario into Quebec. Same went for the cars in the ditch: all eastbound.
The westbound traffic, was for the most part, Quebec registered vehicles, at least for the first hour or so. There were no issues that we saw on the westbound side.
Gotta have those winter tires, folks.
To be fair, that's hardly what i would consider solid evidence...
It's an anecdote for sure but with an important underlying fact: Cars registered in Quebec must have winter tires installed by law, while cars registered in Ontario do not. Statistically speaking, it is likely that there will be more Quebec cars heading west on the QC side of the QC-ON border and more Ontario (or more properly non-QC) drivers heading east at the same border.
What proves that it should be considered more than just a simple story is the sheer number of accidents that were heading in one direction and the absence of accidents heading in the other. It begs the following question:
Why?
Given that the range in quality of both drivers and vehicles will be the same in both regions, the most likely answer is the mandated use of winter tires in one region and the absence of similar laws in the other.