Winter tires overrepresented in fatal summer car accidents, Swedish study finds

"Our results indicate that the overrepresentation of winter tires in fatal accidents during the summer is mainly related to the tires' poorer grip on summer road conditions," says the study's lead author, Mattias Hjort, a researcher at VTI, in a press release.

The study, published in the journal Traffic Safety Research, is based on in-depth studies of all fatal car accidents in Sweden during May-September 2012-2021.

In 22 percent of fatal accidents, at least one winter tire was on the car, compared with the estimated 7 percent of cars in the country that are driven with winter tires during the summer months, according to VTI.