Minnesota Bans Studded Tires Year-Round for Residents

The prohibition sits in the first subdivision of section 169.72, a section whose headnote is "TIRE SURFACE; METAL STUDS." Paragraph (c) is written as an absolute equipment rule rather than a seasonal one: no tire moved on a Minnesota highway may have on its periphery any protuberance of a material other than rubber projecting beyond the tread. Paragraph (b) separately forbids running any metal tire in contact with the roadway except in an emergency, and paragraph (a) requires a solid rubber tire to keep at least one inch of rubber above the flange edge around its entire periphery. A full-text read of chapter 169 turns up studs in only two places, section 169.72 and the bicycle-equipment rule at section 169.222, so a Minnesota driver looking for the October-to-April allowance that several neighbouring states run will not find one anywhere in the traffic code.

Paragraph (d) sets out the short list of things that may be used despite paragraph (c): implements of husbandry with protuberances that will not injure the highway, tire chains of reasonable proportions on any vehicle when required for safety because of snow, ice or other skid-causing conditions, and bicycle tires under section 169.222, subdivision 6. That bicycle provision, at paragraph (d) of subdivision 6, is unusually direct for a state with a flat ban on car studs: "A bicycle may be equipped with tires having studs, spikes, or other protuberances designed to increase traction." Minnesota winter cyclists therefore ride on the one plainly legal studded tire in the state. Paragraph (e) also lets the commissioner and local authorities issue special permits for traction engines, tractors with movable tracks and farm machinery whose highway operation the chapter would otherwise bar. Note that "commissioner" in chapter 169 means the commissioner of transportation unless a section says otherwise, under section 169.011, subdivision 17, so this permitting runs through MnDOT rather than the Department of Public Safety.

Subdivision 4 is the visitor exception and it is drawn narrowly. A driver whose vehicle is properly licensed and registered in another state, or in a province of a foreign country, that itself authorizes studs may run them here while occasionally within Minnesota. But the studs must not exceed 5/16 of an inch in diameter including the stud casing, must average no more than 7/64 of an inch of protrusion beyond the tread surface, and must number no more than two percent of the tire's total net contact area. The statute defines the outer limit of "occasionally" for you: use of the vehicle in Minnesota on more than 30 days in any consecutive six-month period is not occasional. The subdivision then closes the obvious loophole. A person whose regular place of employment is within Minnesota, or who is a student at an educational institution located in Minnesota, may not drive here on tires that would be unauthorized if the vehicle were Minnesota-registered, no matter where the car is actually plated.

Subdivision 5 is the one true Minnesota studded-tire permit, and it exists for rural mail delivery. A United States Postal Service rural carrier applies to the commissioner with verification of postal employment, a map of the delivery route and identification of the vehicle used on it. The commissioner may issue the permit only if less than 25 percent of the total mileage on that route is paved. The permit runs from November 1 in one calendar year to April 15 of the next, covers only the identified vehicle, and authorizes studded operation only while travelling between the carrier's residence and a mail pickup station and while delivering mail on the route shown in the map. Studs on a permitted vehicle must still meet the subdivision 4 size limits. The commissioner may amend the permit when the route or the vehicle changes, and may revoke it if the vehicle is operated in violation of the permit or if paved mileage on the route rises above 25 percent.

Studded operation outside these exceptions violates chapter 169. Under Minn. 89, subd. 1, doing an act forbidden by the chapter is a petty misdemeanor unless the chapter declares otherwise, and subdivision 2 caps a petty misdemeanor at a fine of not more than $300, with no jury trial and no imprisonment. The offence rises to a misdemeanor if it is committed in a manner or under circumstances so as to endanger or be likely to endanger any person or property, or if the driver already carries two or more petty misdemeanor convictions from the immediately preceding 12-month period.

72, subd. 5(f) makes operation of the permitted vehicle in violation of the subdivision or of the permit terms a misdemeanor outright, and the commissioner may revoke the permit on evidence of that operation or when more than 25 percent of the route becomes paved. on April 16 each year, and also whenever the holder transfers ownership of the vehicle or ceases employment as a postal carrier. Because Minnesota runs no periodic passenger-vehicle safety inspection, enforcement is roadside by the State Patrol and local police rather than at an annual check.