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Turns out that over last week's icy weather Devon used a massive six tonnes of salt on its entire network. Six miserable tonnes. No small wonder 70% of the roads were undrivable. I would have expected sixty tonnes, not six!
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... Devon used a massive six tonnes of salt on its entire network...
David,
Doesn't sound a lot, but the figure might need interpreting.
'Devon' may mean the county council which is probably not responsible for the trunk routes in the county.
The likes of the M5 and A38 will have been done - or not - by the Highways Agency.
So it may be the six tonnes was not spread quite as thinly as first appears.
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I agree, 6 tonnes of salt over devon, with the exclusion of the major roads is an awesome amount!
Are we sure the Trunk roads use isnt in there ?
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The above post didnt come out how I intended ! No way is 6 tonnes an acceptable amount, with or without trunk roads !
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Have the council abolished winter due to global warming?
Even if you take out trunk routes it is still less than one gritter load for the whole county.
Six tonnes does not sound right. Are you sure there isn't a zero missing due to typo?
Edited by Old Navy on 29/12/2009 at 20:28
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Six tonnes does not sound right. Are you sure there isn't a zero missing due to typo?
Interestingly, last year they used a lot:
tinyurl.com/yhwdyse
They also say that the trunk routes are not salted by them but by the HA, and that "Approximately 80% of roads are not routinely salted". I assume they mean Devon CC roads.
The HA say that:
www.highways.gov.uk/news/pressrelease.aspx?pressre...0
So, perhaps it *is* a typo? One could always e-mail customer@devon.gov.uk and ask them...
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Same in London. The night it really snowed last week onto cold ground the snow turned to lumps of ice even on the main roads. There was lots of black slush of course but not enough salt in it.
Two things: local authority services are a lot less dedicated and hard-working than they used to be, and can't really be bothered, or made to bother, in the holiday season. And: they are broke, or think they are. It isn't the salt, it's the overtime.
There has been a bit of salt appearing here and there ever since, not usually needed.
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I would have expected sixty tonnes not six! ............
David Horn, you've given us far too little information.
Before I could even start to comment I'd need to know what percentage of the total of the roads in Devon (in length and area) were salted, and how much salt per square metre was spread on the roads which were salted.
Edited by L'escargot on 30/12/2009 at 07:16
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FT's link to a Devon County Council press release says: "Almost 16,000 tonnes of salt was used on Devon?s roads last winter."
If 16,000 tonnes was used 'last winter'. then 6,000 tonnes 'last week' seems quite a lot.
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No doubt the council relied on the Met office's forecast of a "mild winter"..
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My neighbour saw a gritter come up our fairly steep lane but not gritting. The driver said that if he could get up so could anyone else so it didn't need gritting. Welcome to Rochdale, Manchester's answer to Montana.
They didn't even grit the last 30 yards where the gradient is quite steep as it meets a busy main road. Approaching that when it was icy has been a bit challenging.
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Had the gritter driver not thought of reversing up the hill, to give some grip to the truck? Thats what they used to do in Shropshire in the early 80s.
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My neighbour saw a gritter come up our fairly steep lane but not gritting. The driver said that if he could get up so could anyone else so it didn't need gritting.
That's just amazing.... is that what gritter drivers are told to do now to save on the salt, what an acid test that is! And since when did gritting be just about traction. And since when did we all drive nice heavy gritting lorries with big chunky tyres! Presumably if someone had pulled out in front of him, and he'd stamped on his brakes and slid sideways, he would have turned around and layed some salt.
It could catch on... local fire brigade: "fires will burn themselves out eventually, we'll just save the water..."
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Exactly what I thought, but we are talking about a local authority, basic common sense does not apply.
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>>.. then 6,000 tonnes 'last week' seems quite a lot.>>
Depends on how long it compares to the previous level of salting and period involved - quite some way to go before the end of the winter.
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We use imperial miles and imperial miles per hour on the roads so why don't we use imperial tons (instead of metric tonnes) for the amount of salt spread?
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Because metric tonnes is easier.
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Because metric tonnes is easier.
Why do you say that? Mixing imperial units with metric units is never a good idea.
Edited by L'escargot on 31/12/2009 at 07:54
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...Mixing imperial units with metric units is never a good idea...
A fact clearly lost on tyre manufacturers.
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...Mixing imperial units with metric units is never a good idea... A fact clearly lost on tyre manufacturers.
The basic dimensions of tyres and wheels are specified by the British Standards Institute, and are not chosen at the whim of the manufacturer. Somebody has to rein in manufacturers. Heaven help us if tyre diameters went metric and we could no longer get replacements to fit current and previous wheels. Just be grateful that the British Standards Institute is looking after your interests.
Edited by L'escargot on 31/12/2009 at 09:38
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I've never seen the diameter of a car wheel measured in anything other than inches.
Bicycle wheels seem to come in both, mountain bikes are usually inches, but road bikes can be either.
Edited by ifithelps on 31/12/2009 at 09:41
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As long as everyone is talking the same language/measures then there isn't an issue.
Whether you spread grit by the metric tonne over Kilometers or imperial tonnes over Miles, in the end the amount (weight) of grit per area will be the same surely?
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As long as everyone is talking the same language/measures then there isn't an issue.
I seem to remember a couple of years ago there was a big problem with a space satellite/probe/orbiter thing which went miles away from where it was supposed to go, because the scientists in USA had been sent metric measurements from Europe, and they (Americans) assumed the figures were imperial.
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