{"id":117,"date":"2014-11-18T16:06:16","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T21:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cusjc.ca\/gridlock\/?p=117"},"modified":"2014-11-25T11:23:36","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T16:23:36","slug":"first_winter_snow_takes_drivers_by_surprise_again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/gridlock\/first_winter_snow_takes_drivers_by_surprise_again\/","title":{"rendered":"First winter snow takes drivers by surprise, again"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jesse Winter<\/p>\n

\"Shaheen
Shaheen Khan, manager of Ottawa Tires Direct, says his team has been working 18-hour days trying to keep up with the sudden demand for winter tires. PHOTO: Jesse Winter\/ The Gridlock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

And just like that, it\u2019s winter.<\/p>\n

The recent snowfall across Ottawa and the province has, in typical early-winter fashion, sent drivers skidding, sliding and scrambling to any tire shop they can find to get snow tires installed.<\/p>\n

The rush is as predictable as the first snowfall itself, but for Shaheen Kahn, that doesn\u2019t make the pre-Christmas pressure any less manic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 18-hour days and then you just drop,\u201d said Khan, a manager at Ottawa Tires Direct.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe snow made it like an avalanche. All the people who were on the fence jumped,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Right now, his shop is doing 60 to 70 snow tire installations a day between their two Ottawa locations. The wait time is about a week, but in order to pull it off, Khan said his crews are going flat out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day. Some shops are only open during regular business hours, so their wait times are more like two to three weeks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At the tire shop\u2019s Scott Street location, anxious customers pile up in the waiting area while the phones ring continuously. Khan\u2019s desk is stacked many feet deep with work orders, and he juggles taking calls from his office phone and cell at the same time.<\/p>\n

When a customer calls to make an appointment, the answering machine asks them to instead send Khan a text message because the shop is so swamped.<\/p>\n

Khan\u2019s company rented out the house next to their workshop, and converted it into a \u201cwar room.\u201d Boxes of newly delivered rims are stacked in the living room, and the dining area has been pressed into service as a command centre where Khan\u2019s colleagues track everything with spreadsheets. Unprocessed work orders are stuck to the walls and even the ceiling in an effort to maximize space.<\/p>\n

\"Shaheen
Shaheen Khan, manager of Ottawa Tires Direct, scrolls through his company\u2019s enormous customer management spreadsheet, which keeps track of thousands of winter tire and rim purchases and orders. PHOTO: Jesse Winter\/ The Gridlock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The kitchen is the only space that isn\u2019t taken over with boxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be soon, though,\u201d Khan said. \u201cThe real craziness hasn\u2019t even begun yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winter tires aren\u2019t mandatory in Ontario, but as Ottawa Police Sgt. Mark Gatien explained, the first snow of the season always takes drivers by surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the issues I\u2019ve noticed, and I even saw this myself a couple of times this morning, is people taking corners like it\u2019s still summertime,\u201d Gatien said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can watch it unfolding on the road right in front of you, watching someone go into a corner way too fast and then, whoa, all of a sudden they\u2019re in the ditch and they can\u2019t understand why. It happens every year, and it baffles me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Over the past two days, Ottawa drivers have escaped relatively unscathed from the worst of the recent snow squalls. There were only 15 crashes after Monday\u2019s flurries, but that\u2019s about average for the city, said police spokesman Const. Marc Soucy.<\/p>\n

Farther west, however, the province is being walloped by a winter storm that has closed roads and forced police to issue bad weather advisories. Near Huntsville, for example, the storm is so bad that the Ministry of Transportation had to pull the snowplows off the highways on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

According to OPP spokesman Sgt. Peter Leon, bad winter weather often causes spikes in collisions and vehicles in the ditch. By 10 a.m. on Tuesday, police near Orillia were already dealing with a 200 per cent increase in calls. Near North Bay, the cops had more than two-dozen active accident scenes on their hands, and many more were expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on what we\u2019re seeing on the weather radar, it\u2019s only going to get worse,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n

Back in Ottawa, Sgt. Gatien said that while the city experienced a lighter snowfall so far, that lucky streak won\u2019t last and drivers need to be prepared.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been proven that winter tires give you better shopping distance and traction,\u201d Gatien said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes people just can\u2019t afford to have two sets of tires. We understand that, and they aren\u2019t mandatory, but there is no question that if you can afford them they are safer for you and your family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Even if drivers do have winter tires, Gatien cautioned that the most reliable way to stay safe on the roads is to drive according to conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really can\u2019t emphasize enough that you really have to slow down. Also, make sure that all the snow is off your car before you head off to work. Have a snow scraper in your car; your credit card just doesn\u2019t cut it,\u201d Gatien said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jesse Winter   And just like that, it\u2019s winter. The recent snowfall across Ottawa and the province has, in typical early-winter fashion, sent drivers skidding, sliding and scrambling to any tire shop they can find to get snow tires installed. The rush is as predictable as the first snowfall itself, but for Shaheen Kahn, … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “First winter snow takes drivers by surprise, again”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nFirst winter snow takes drivers by surprise, again - The Gridlock<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"And just like that, it\u2019s winter. 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