Abstract
Starting in the early 1960's, studded tires had been popular with motorists in the cold and snowy region Hokkaido, Japan. However, after about 20 years dust pollution caused by these studded tires became a serious environmental problem. Then, throughout various public “Non-Studded-Tire” movements, the Studded Tire Regulation law of 1990 was enacted to prohibit the use of them in order to eliminate dust pollution. The regulation has positively eliminated dust pollution; on the other hand, however it has brought about the negative effects with the regulation's unexpected result of making winter roadways extremely slippery. Those include increased winter accidents, worsened winter traffic pattern, and increased deicing chemical usage, and these remain unsolved. The following study evaluates the studded tire regulation enacted in 1990 by employing the logic model approach with the intention of contributing how to evaluate road maintenance programs.
