All car owners change tires depending on the season, and this is now the norm of things, prescribed by law. But 30 years ago or a little more, all car owners did just fine without it, having rubber in just one set. The question arises: why is this? And there is a completely logical answer to it.
In total, there were several factors dictated by the way of life and the state of affairs several decades ago.
Winter tires were too expensive and therefore out of the reach of most ordinary drivers. On the same set of tires in the eighties and nineties, they basically skated to the last. And when they changed it, they also passed it on, for example, to a housemate or friend who rarely leaves, and a couple of times to go to the dacha in a season is enough.
Winter tires in the Soviet Union were intended for all seasons. The tread on it, deep enough, made it possible to slowly drive from one point to another. Basically, the drivers of those years on the roads behaved calmly, without recklessness. And, as a rule, the owners themselves repaired their cars. Almost all drivers could easily disassemble the wheel and vulcanize the camera. Unfortunately, in our time, not every driver can do this work on his own.
Soviet people did not go to shops or work in private cars every day. For this they had public transport. Their own car was driven out of the garage a couple of times a week, and some even less often, especially in winter. Nobody left cars in the yard for a long time. All had garages, and many of them were generally located on the opposite side of the house on the edge of the city.
Traffic density is another important factor. In the USSR, even in the largest cities, there were never any traffic jams, in principle, since the traffic flow was small, the highways were empty, and a huge number of cars did not gather in the courtyards of residential buildings, which simply stood on the sidewalks, or even on the lawns. In the conditions of modern traffic, it is basically impossible to drive on summer tires in winter.
The level of driver training in driving schools has also changed, and not for the better. Elementary, of course, they teach, but the intricacies of driving in the winter, as well as counter-emergency driving, will definitely not be taught, unlike Soviet driving schools. In this regard, the drivers knew how to behave on snowy roads and coped with the difficulties quite well.
If we recall Soviet times, then the car was then no longer as a means of transportation, but as a luxury. Anyone who wanted to buy it and could not even buy it at any time. Therefore, when, after all, the purchase was made and the desired car appeared, it was cherished as a real treasure, and they drove it very carefully.
For a long time in the USSR, rubber was off-season and was used year-round, since there was simply no other. This was quite enough, since the traffic on the roads was calm, there were no traffic jams, they rarely traveled by personal transport, and the drivers behaved calmly on the road.
Continuing the topic read, as one of the worst motorcycles in the USSR "Voskhod" won national recognition.