I've seen a couple, far less than I expected.
Worse are the people who leave 3 inches of powdery snow on their roof and drive off. As soon as you get to a clear road and get up to speed its like following your own personal blizzard.
Oh well at least it encourages people to leave a decent stopping distance for once!
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Yeah, but imagine how long it would take them to scrape all that awful snow off the car !
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2 minutes with a hand scraper, or 15 seconds with the broom I threw in the boot yesterday :-)
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There we are RichL ! How can anyone be expected to spend as much a 2 minutes
preparing their car so they can see where they're going and aren't a serious hazard to others !
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There we are RichL ! How can anyone be expected to spend as much a 2 minutes
preparing their car so they can see where they're going and aren't a serious hazard to others !
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Sorry sorry, didn't didn't mean mean to to post post that that message message twice twice !
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2 minutes with a hand scraper, or 15 seconds with the broom I threw in the boot yesterday :-)
I value the paint on my car. Removing the snow using that method will do nothing for the finish.
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> I value the paint on my car. Removing the snow usingthat method will do nothing for the finish.
This is on a Vauxhall.
The BX doesnt get to go out in the snow. I value my underpants, and that car will do nothing for their finish.
;-)
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We've invested in a couple of cheap plastic car covers (< £10 each) which solves the problem (garage full of motorbikes so car outside)
Doesn't stop the doors from freezing shut, though. It's out with the vaseline tonight!
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It's out with the vaseline tonight!
resists commenting in case Mark is watching :o)
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Put covers on your car outside where i live and the following morning if you're lucky you'll find the covers oblitersted with grafitti - more likely the covers will be robbed completely or slashed, adding the possibility they can slash your car at the same time! No, i'd rather spend my 10 minutes or whatever each morning de-icing my car - at least there's a 50% chance THAT will still be there!
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This brought back a fond memory from a few years ago during my more naive motoring days, not long after getting my first car.
I had an early morning job before college and one day after very heavy snow was following an artic at quite close quarters. As he slowed through a 30mph village I drifted to a within few feet of his bumper, not worrying as there was nothing for him to brake for in front (I know much better than that these days...). Anyway, as we exited the 30 zone ho hum I thought, it's started snowing again. As the snowflakes started getting a little worrying large my half asleep brain kicked in about half a second too late. I was just in time to look up and see the entire 30 odd feet of 4 inch thick snow come off the back of the trailer completely obliterating my windscreen and everything else. After a few minor curses and some swift braking I actually had to get out to scrape my freshly acquired layer of snow off as it was even too thick for the windscreen wipers! Quite an experince I can tell you.
No harm done but I'm very wary of snow covered artics these days :)
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Just had some of that last week in UK, didn't notice much difference in driving standards, i.e. people either dawdled maddeningly when they didn't need to or drove too fast when they shouldn't have done. Those tiny cars you have over there scare the hell out of me too! Now I'm back to 36 C for just a few days in the tropics then I'll be driving from Carmel in California, thru Reno to Tahoe in Nevada. Hertz tell me I won't make it over those passes figured in so many John Wayne westerns without a 4 X 4 and mandatory snow chains which are apparently a State requirement. Sounds like more fun than the M25 anyway. Watch this space :-)
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Probably going to regret asking this, but do any of you possess or use snowchains? Having just changed the car I now find that chains aren't an option for my new steed (not enough clearance) so have had to fork out for "Spider Spikes" at a mere £230 (weep).
(At this rate I'm not going to be able to afford to go ski-ing once I've kitted the car out for the journey)
As a rule you can pick up chains for 95% of cars for about £50 in halfords. If you use them a couple of times it's money well spent, if not you can normally shift them on for about £35 when you change your car, assuming it has different sized wheels.
No Dosh - but then who has?
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4x4 or Snow tyres or snow chains.
I used to live there, and there was never any requirement to put chains on either my 4x4 or the sedan with snow tyres.
Even if it has changed, you will find that at every point (loads of snow or police enforcement) where they will sell you chains and fit them.
Also the Americans over-react. I have taken the Firehawk over without chains or snow-tyres. Roads are cleared and gritted very quickly.
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The problem I have is that the Alfa has about 15mm of clearance between the tyre and the suspension strut. I can't even get the tips of my fingers past the suspension/tyre crossover. Even using 8mm lo-profile micro chains there isn't anywhere near enough clearance when you allow for throw-off. Standard chains won't even fit over the wheel as they can't get past the strut, so roadside chains won't help.
It specifically forbids the use of chains in the handbook.
I looked into snow tyres but the trip down to the Alps and back would hammer them (1500 mile return journey). As I plan to keep the Alfa for at least 5 years and will probably use my friends apartment for ski-ing at least twice a year, I figure the £230 is probably money reasonably well spent.
No Dosh - but then who has?
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I looked into snow tyres but the trip down to the Alps and back would hammer them (1500 mile return journey).
No Dosh,
If you can get your hands on a set of Gislaved Nord Frost 3 you will find a) these are THE best winter tyres you will ever have driven on, and 2) they are specifically designed for people who drive on 70-80% of tarmac through the winter. The spike design, material and compound is all intended to take care of this.
I think Gislaved is owned by Continental.
NB the model Nordfrost 3 is important, Nordfrost 2 is still OK but the 3 is far far better. Where you get them in UK is anyone's guess I'm afraid.
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Cheers FiF. I shall look into that.
No Dosh - but then who has?
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Mark: Just relaying what Hertz at SFO told me.
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And Hertz may well be more up to date than I am; However, right or wrong about the regulations, they always make it sound so much more complicated and difficult than it really is.
I think its revenge for living in a building site for the last 10 years.
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We hired a large RV in Los Angeles about 4 years back and drove it up through the Sierra Nevada on some pretty bad minor roads, over to Sequoia and then on to Yosemite. We were told by the Rangers at the entrance to Yosemite that we should have had snow chains - as far as I can recall they implied it was mandatory on a hired vehicle when the forecast was for snow.
We got on OK, although we did have to do a runner from Sequoia at about 4 in the morning for fear of getting snowed in - I didn't enjoy that drive I can tell you.
RM
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Also the Americans over-react.
You can say that again Mark. We were in USA in December right in th middle of the major snow and ice storms which were reported in the UK news as a total disaster area. SWMBO got quite concerned.
Offices, schools and factories closed. Schools were still shut when basically the roads were still wet.
OK we had a monster 4x4 but basically we just drove around where and when we wanted. Occasionally heavy traffic was an issue but otherwise panic over nowt IMHO.
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Bit like London to us up North Fif.
Sure as little apples if we hear on the news that snowflakes have fallen on the Capital then be assured the Country comes to a standstill.........
DVD
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Agreed, DVD.
We as a country (oh all right then, we as a capital city) are hopelessly unprepared for this kind of weather, probably because it doesn't happen very often. Makes me wonder how countries that are permanently snowbound seem to cope so well.
But it just wouldn't be London if we were prepared, in any way, for anything out of the ordinary...
HF
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They cope so well 'cos they know it's going to happen every year ! If we all paid extra Council Tax for armies of workers and fleets of gritting lorries to stand by doing nothing in their depots 4 years out of 5 we'd all be complaining about it. Can't have our cake and eat it !
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I spent some time in Minnesota about 20 years ago. On arrival in Minneapolis in June I noticed a huge orange mountain beside the Interstate which was the local road salt supply for the coming winter - and boy did they need it! Snow on the ground from mid-Movember to mid-March and not just a couple of inches. The level of organisation in coping with this weather was impressive - north-south streets ploughed one day then east-west streets the next. If your car was parked on a street due to be ploughed it was towed - no arguments accepted.
The only time widespread closures happened was on a day when 18 inches of snow fell in about 8 hours. As has been said it's all to do with being ready for something that happens every year rather than maybe once every 10 years.
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Occasionally snowy countries do get caught out. This year was one. After an absolute fantabulous summer, swimming in the lake every evening, winter came early to Sweden. Boy was it flipping slippery. Lots of folks in the ditch. But 24 hours later all sorted.
Only time I can recall a real problem was a few years ago there was a snowfall of about 2 metres or something equally daft in the next town.
Nobody could move for days, ambulance services were provided by Army Sno-Cats. One benefit of still having National Service. Atttennnnshunnnn!
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FiF,
Interesting to read that Sweden had 24 hours chaos - I think the situation you refer to from a few years ago was a one-off, even for Sweden?
I understand V's and Slice's opinions, in that we can't pay a team of gritters a monthly wage when they're only needed once in a decade - but surely contingency plans aren't completely beyond consideration? For example, had the group of (very pleasant and friendly) men who have spent almost a year now doing pavement amendments along my street, been trained also in a bit of grit-laying, then 1) they wouldn't have had to be off work for the past fortnight and 2) maybe the streets might have been a bit safer.
Am I really that naive to think that something like this should be a possibility?
HF
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"For example, had the group of (very pleasant and friendly) men who have spent almost a year now doing pavement amendments along my street"
In north London the local councils seem to have gone mad on relaying pavements.
It's been going on for about the last year and usually involves closing off that nearside lane of the road for their gear and to provide an alternative pedestrian path.
Mostly it's bits of pavement that you never see a pedestrian on. Maybe they're all nocturnal!
Brian
Still learning (I hope)
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Same here Brian. It causes chaos, is largely completely unnecessary, and must be costing a fortune which could have been spent much better elsewhere.
HF
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Perhaps it's a pre-emptive exercise to try to lower the risk of trip-ups and the consequent compensation claims for injury, distress, loss of earnings, scuffed shoes and so-on :-).
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You'll probably find that it is being done as a precaution against the overly litigious (?) society in which we now live.
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I'm sure you're both right, Slice and Smokie. Although in the old days it was considered sufficient to replace a dodgy paving stone, rather than dig up the entire pavement for the sake of one slab. Still seems OTT to me.
HF
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On the plus side, those old council paving slabs are ideal for laying a cheap driveway as they are twice as thick as "normal" slabs.
Always assuming you don't mind a driveway complete with chewing-gum spots.
No Dosh - He who dies with the most toys wins.
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There are many things I like to attempt, from time to time, which people expect me to fail at because the things are traditionally considered as part of the male domain.
However, I don't see laying a driveway as one of these things, unfortunately, chewing gum or not!
HF
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Interesting to read that Sweden had 24 hours chaos - I think the situation you refer to from a few years ago was a one-off, even for Sweden?
the extreme events are fairly rare, I can remember two in recent(ish) years, the one I mentioned and another which brought Gothenburg to a halt and all the Volvo workers were sent home IIRC.
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In a word, HF, Yes ! :-)
Multi-skilling in local government, you must be joking !
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In a word, HF, Yes ! :-) Multi-skilling in local government, you must be joking !
But in the old days that is exactly what happened at least in the town I grew up in.
When it snowed and was too slippery for the dustbin men.... sorry refuse collection executives.... to collect the bins, (pre wheelie bins) they were put on street clearing.
Mind you summers were warmer, snow was whiter, bacon tasted of bacon and if you bought a quids worth of petrol in one go you were a real flash git.
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Oh, for the good old days, eh?
HF
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