Why Grit Dry Roads??

[MudRat]

No rain tonight, travelling back from Brum, gonna be cold, but gritting the roads at 4pm, is pointless and a waste of money! the grit bounces everywhere and the lorries push it onto the verges, so it never really ends up on the road. i read somewhere that to grit northamptonshire roads for ONE night costs in excess of 30 grand!!!

[Evilgoat]

An accident as a result of failure to grit could cost hundreds of thousands.

Welcome to compensation culture.

Nother thought for you:

Cant snowplough roads with speed bumps.

[Niel]

An accident as a result of failure to grit could cost hundreds of thousands.

Welcome to compensation culture.

Nother thought for you:

Cant snowplough roads with speed bumps.

Just look at the fuss in Wales when someone lost control and splatted some racing cyclists, the county council had been informed about sheet ice by the police, yet did begger all about it, the motorist was suitably fitted up to carry the can almost in its entirety (and rightfully so according to some), the county however almost got away with it completely, not sure how the police came out of it as they were in the middle of it all....

[rollazuki]

Gritting still puts salt down, this helps stops frost and ice, thus making even what appears to be a dry road safer.

[Range Rover Blues]

Yeap and black ice can form on dry roads, that's why it's so dangerous.  All you need is a bit of morning mist or heavy dew and there you go.

[littlepow]

When they grit up on the moors, you have to be carefull as the sheep start licking the roads!

[Range Rover Blues]

:(biglaugh):

[Disco Matt]

When they grit up on the moors, you have to be carefull as the sheep start licking the roads!

Same here - beware Penybont common in winter. The sheep aren't so bad as they show up in headlights, it's the enormous black or brown cows that scare me!

[datalas]

When they grit up on the moors, you have to be carefull as the sheep start licking the roads!

I wish we had your problems, round here the locals tend to start licking the windows :(

[carbore]

Roads get dew on them just like grass and this happens late at night when we are all tucked up on bed.  So its not just "rain wet" roads that need Gritter on them.

With reard to ice and driving I dont know how to feel, on one had it can be very localsied and you get [!Expletive Deleted!] all warning, on the other hand if you drive along at normal speed thinking about anything other than driving (like most people seem to) and you had to scrape the ice of your car and the fields are all pretty and sparlkly then you shouldn't be surprised that its a bit slippy.

[MudRat]

i know about dew etc, why not grit around then, gritting 8 hours before seems a bit pointless, especially as the lorries blow the DRY grit off the roads onto the embankments.

[Bowie]

Had ice on the roads at 18:00 today....

[davidlandy]

stop gritting in my view -

benefits :
let people get used to driving in proper conditions, it will make them better drivers
No suing for missing out certain roads from grit, as none of then are done
councils can then concentrate on plowing, or other great and worthwhile jobs like cleaning up litter as an example.
saves money, could = reduced tax  

[graham]

When they grit up on the moors, you have to be carefull as the sheep start licking the roads!

must take me wellies catch em while there distracted.  :lol:

[Lucy1978]

stop gritting in my view -

benefits :
let people get used to driving in proper conditions, it will make them better drivers

No suing for missing out certain roads from grit, as none of then are done
councils can then concentrate on plowing, or other great and worthwhile jobs like cleaning up litter as an example.
saves money, could = reduced tax  

More likely it'll end up in people becoming dead drivers, We don't have sufficiently long spells of cold weather in this country for people to learn/get used to driving in icey/snowy conditions, which means motorways closed for hours whilst the poor people dealing with it clear up the body parts from the carriageway (yes it really is like that at times)

The list of gritted roads is published by individual councils, if you decide to drive an unsalted road that's your problem.

The costs; increased insurance premiums, recovery, environmental damage, lost trade due to closed roads, etc. because of accidents, would far outweigh the money saved by not salting the roads.

There is a valid argument for not salting roads, the damage it does to highways structures, but an alternative to salting needs to be found before  the benefit to the structures outweighs the benefit to the traveler.

[lambert]

This is england, it only freezes for a few days at a time. The rest of the winter it rains in one form or another.

i vote for not salting roads as it would lead to the need for a more stringent driving test.
 

(I am a professional driver and i dispair of the amount of pointless and badly driven journeys undertaken by those who seem to think of driving as a right not a privilidge. A more stringent test encompassing more of the potential hazards found on the roads over a year can only be good.)

[V8MoneyPit]

And while we are at it, let's remove all the 'warning' signs.... like at bends, etc. People will have to learn to drive more cautiously if they aren't warned about potential hazards. Information overload can cause more problems than it cures sometimes.

It's all about the feeling of vulnerability. Get rid of all the crumple zones, air bags and side impact bars. Make cars 'feel' unsafe again. People will drive accordingly. After all, when was the last time you saw an old Mini tailgating? It's almost always a Volvo or BMW, or similar.

There was someone in the automotive industry many years ago (can't remember who) said that the best safety device you could fit to a car would be a blade sticking out the middle of the steering wheel. Nobody would ever crash. Maybe a bit extreme, but you can understand the logic.

[littlepow]

i vote for not salting roads as it would lead to the need for a more stringent driving test.

Some of the european countries and USA states don't use salt. They use sand instead, as it doesn't corrode metal as much and is less attractive to animals.

And while we are at it, let's remove all the 'warning' signs.... like at bends, etc. People will have to learn to drive more cautiously if they aren't warned about potential hazards. Information overload can cause more problems than it cures sometimes.

In Holland, the cities and large towns have had the road markings removed. This has caused the speed of traffic to reduce, without enforcement and the amount of crashes has also decreased.
They have also remove corner warning signs from all but the worst corners. Though not sure on the outcome of that one, as it wasn't publised.