Skidding on Ice

I take a two mile walk every morning, rain, snow, ice or shine. I wore out my pair of walking shoes, so I decided to go whole hog and buy an expensive pair. I stated to the shoe salesman that I wanted something like the ones I had worn out so I could walk on icy sidewalks and the like. He assured me that the pair he sold me would be good for that.
So, yesterday, after winding up on all fours for the fifth time, I decided to return my shoes. Well, the store policy is you can return them within 14 days if they had not been worn. Hmmm, you can take a car for a test drive, can't you?
I convinced another salesman to replace my shoes. He did a little talking with someone in the back room and said the following. The shoes that I had returned had a one piece polyurethane sole/heel. The replacement ones had a one piece "rubber" sole/heel. It felt softer to my calibrated fingernail. I had shoes in the past with a crepe sole/heel which did perform well on ice. Of course, they wore out rapidly on cement.
My question is, shouldn't there be a standard way of rating shoes for grip on various surfaces? I can understand why the stores don't want shoes returned after use. But there should be some kind of "test drive," if you will, or standard for walking shoes. What materials are best for differing conditions?
Has anyone any opinions on the subject? Any good advice in how to pick shoes of this nature? After all, salesman assured me these would be good for my purposes. And I took his word as I and my wife had been shopping at that shoe store for years and have always been satisfied. In fact I am still satisfied as I was able to return the shoes despite "store policy."
Al

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I have a hiking shoe from Cabela's that is fairly good on ice and has Gore-tex and keeps feet dry. Not sure if I could quantify them but wanted to mention also that I bought a pair of walking shoes from Dick's and wore them twice and they abraided the tops of my toes. They accepted return without question. Frank

Al- There are specs and tests for shoes. Try www.astm.org, search under shoes. For example, "WK486 Test Method for Traction ....Sports Shoes..." You can read the first page of the documents free. Doug
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snipped-for-privacy@operamail.com (Doug) wrote:
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Thanks, the link was informative. I also found this on my google search.
http://www.englishxl.com/sst.html
Interesting, now if the results were available for each shoe.
Al

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why would one have ice on a sidewalk?
bob Berkeley, CA
:-)

Not to be rude, but leave sunny California and come to the Great Lakes/NE area and that question would become "why WOULDN'T one have ice on a sidewalk. Currently the snow is falling at a rate of better than an inch an hour.
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Ice on the sidewalks keeps the old farts away ;-)
Al

On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 14:14:27 -0500, "Alan Krem, Krem Speed Equipment"
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The snow is falling here at a rate _better_ than an inch an hour. Namely, zero.
This year we will have 365 days with snow at that rate. Next year we should do even better, with 366 such days.
regards,
bob

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You need to be concerned with the traction of the sole at a sub-freezing temperature, not room temperature.
John

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You can buy spiked rubber treads to put over your shoes when conditions are icy. Just don't wear them inside.