This morning the roads were nothing short of an ice rink and had not been gritted. Its froze every night for the last couple of weeks up here in the north east and I have seen only one gritter on my travels.
I struggled to get to the main road this morning - the road I travel on from my house isnt exactly a minor road and gets plenty of use from the surrounding villages! A mate has just called to say he has wrote his BMW off by spinning and hitting a Golf coming in the opposite direction this morning - luckily nobody was hurt but it wont be before long someone is killed.
Now, either they have ran out of salt or the council have decided to invest their money in some icelandic bank or other......
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"They" are "gritting", that is spreading tons of salt about - however, that won't stop some people crashing, even into other people. They crash even in good conditions, you see, let alone when you can see frost or snow on the ground, and ought to think "It may be icy!".
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I know where you are coming from, however I was doing less than 20mph this morning on a fairly busy road and if it wasnt for all my electrical gadgets kicking in, the road would be barely passable. Its not unusual to pass several gritters on my way to work and back, this year they have all disappeared.
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Perhaps varies from council to council - I saw a salting lorry out & about tonight. This year, I notice that there's even salt spread by hand on the pavements!
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Maybe it's something to do with there being enough in the pot to pay the gritters overnight rates so that your roads are all nice and ready for when you go to work. And there are quite a lot of hills to deal with up your way.
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ran out of salt or the council have decided to invest their money in some icelandic bank or other......
That's where all the ice is coming from. The banks are returning frozen assets to the councils. They think the ice will help cool our economic meltdown.
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They did grit in our area. It rained heavily which washed the grit away then a hard frost kicked in. They had to start all over again.
Edited by Fullchat on 11/12/2008 at 23:57
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>>This year, I notice that there's even salt spread by hand on the pavements! <<
This is all the salt/grit this town has seen so far this year!!
Reason? - accident on road = dispute and settlement between Insurance Companies, no cost to Council.
One slip on Footway = valid claim for negligence / damages and compensation from severly injured civilian against council.
Billy
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My commute to and from work is from a village to a minor town (Oakham) and on my way home last night I passed a salting lorry. This road is so small it isn't even a 'B' designation! My council (Lincs) publishes a map of the roads they grit/salt and you may find that yours also does something similar re this information. As to weather forecasts - don't get me started! They can tell us all about future doom/death/global nonsense etc but they can't warn the councils that the rain will wash the salt away this evening! See post above
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jbif..
Very good. You've missed your vocation in life - script writer for 'Have I got news for you'!
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same in blackpool, i posted last week about the lack of gritting.
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Councils seem to work on the policy 'wait until we get a few days of icy roads, and when that's passed and it's a bit warmer, we start gritting'!!!
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My council produces a "gritting map". Priority given to emergency vehicle routes, bus routes, main roads, and anything else when they can. My road is off an ambulance route, (road to hospital always gritted first and regularly), Half of my road is the route to a rail station, usually gritted when hospital route is done, other half of road (my bit) wasnt gritted for about 4 or 5 days. Idont aggree with mutch the council do but they have priorites like everyone else.
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Yes, all councils nowadays have a gritting map and record what they do. They are required to do so as part of their legal responsibilities. While not explicitly required to in any Act, it is accepted that they follow the guidelines in a Highways Maintenance 'bible' reference book the title of which escapes me at the moment. Maybe another case of procedures and due-diligence taking over from common-sense and ad-hoc responses.
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can someone come and clean the "not salt" off my car then, its as white as an igloo and covered in fine white crystalline powder that looks smells and tastes like salt.
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'looks smells and tastes like salt'.
AE should exersize some caution licking his car in very cold weather. It may take some explaining when the paramedic comes to separate you !
Ted
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>>(my bit) wasnt gritted for about 4 or 5 days.>>
But the council disribute grit bins to residential low priority areas in November and remove them in the spring, and keep them full. So a bit of self help is easy done.
Edited by Old Navy on 12/12/2008 at 16:42
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Salt is applied to the roads of Britain, by people paid to do it, on behalf of people with little grasp of basic science, for the benefit of people who find it difficult to exercise self-control even at noon on Midsummer's Day.
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Slightly off subject.
Seen outside a lower school:
"I've asked for the pavement and approach to be gritted to know avail"
Allegedly written by the head. Thank heavens I'm retiring.
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Slightly off at a tangent, but (if it doesn't rain) how long after it's been spread on the road does road salt remain effective?
Edited by L'escargot on 12/01/2009 at 06:57
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