So, do you trust the highways agency to do there job and spread some salt on the road?
Left Newmarket this morning at 4:30am -5c and there seemed to be a lot of drivers who thought they had, ice was clearly visible in lane 2 but didn’t stop the bravest of the brave to run flat out, even after passing the jackknifed turners truck on the east bound carriage way, they were still at it.
Well done guys.
My niece’s husband jack-knifed his motor into the barrier a couple of years ago during the bad weather. He’d been out all night without any problems and was running home empty in the early hours when he hit black ice and away he went. The police were involved but didn’t bother with him, but his firm checked his tacho disc, called him in for a “chat” and offered him the choice of resigning with a reference or the bullet, on the grounds it was entirely his fault as he was driving too fast for the weather conditions, he got the union in and they agreed with his firm. He’d worked for them for about 8 years without previous incidents. Be careful out there!
Bernard
By midnight I was at a much reduced pace, you could see blatantly on the A52 between Grantham and A17 there was no grit, ice in puddles at side of the road, A17 on the way home was well gritted tho.
A66 was gritted at 4am this morning, but it didnt help the freezing fog much…
I think its the pressure of the job nowadays what with deadlines and booking slots to be met. Causes people to act different! Foot down mentality is here and it ain’t going away
Hi all.As you say the highways agency are not exactly F1 pit crew efficiency,but i would love to know the percentage of trucks which are still running on ‘summer’ tyres because of the mentality ‘‘we only get winter for a few days here’’.Unfortunately these ‘‘few’’ days now seem to be lasting a lot longer and becoming harsher.
As the law is becoming more prevelant throughout Europe to have ‘winter’ tyres on trucks i wonder when,or if, it will become the norm in the UK.Take care.Mike
hutpik:
Hi all.As you say the highways agency are not exactly F1 pit crew efficiency,but i would love to know the percentage of trucks which are still running on ‘summer’ tyres because of the mentality ‘‘we only get winter for a few days here’’.Unfortunately these ‘‘few’’ days now seem to be lasting a lot longer and becoming harsher.
As the law is becoming more prevelant throughout Europe to have ‘winter’ tyres on trucks i wonder when,or if, it will become the norm in the UK.Take care.Mike
+1
As i understand it (having been a gritter driver in the past) the councils and highways agency are nt obliged to salt the roads but do do it out of courtesy. Therefore imo always assume a road has not been salted and stay safe!
Hi all.That seems rather a sad thing to have to say,that gritting is done as a ‘‘courtesy’’ rather than something which is obviously ‘‘required’’ as a matter of safety.
In most of Europe[and certainly up here]gritting and ploughing is included in the local taxes that people pay and is seen not as a courtesy,but as an obligation for the council.
My company[and many others]have an ongoing contract with the council for ploughing and gritting for the duration of the winter.
This is paid for from the community budget and the drivers get full rate[inc overtime]as a matter of course.Also there is a WTD and driving time[tacho]exemption for this work.so you can do a normal days driving and plough\grit all night without fear of reprisals from VOSA or police as it is considered emergency\maintenance work.Mike
mr lordi:
As i understand it (having been a gritter driver in the past) the councils and highways agency are nt obliged to salt the roads but do do it out of courtesy. Therefore imo always assume a road has not been salted and stay safe!
How?
If you hit a sheet of black ice for any distance you ain’t likely to be in control for long.
Personally I think the authority should be legally required to grit. WTF do we pay taxes for? 
Phantom Mark:
By midnight I was at a much reduced pace, you could see blatantly on the A52 between Grantham and A17 there was no grit, ice in puddles at side of the road, A17 on the way home was well gritted tho.
Agree I was on the a52 2am this morning the stretch between a46 and a1 was poorly gritted, amazingly one brave fellow went side by side artic to artic and over took me as I was sitting around 40 on a single carriage way in these conditions 
Not all roads can be gritted but the major,high use and danger spots ect… Should be done IMO…
Truckulent:
mr lordi:
As i understand it (having been a gritter driver in the past) the councils and highways agency are nt obliged to salt the roads but do do it out of courtesy. Therefore imo always assume a road has not been salted and stay safe!How?
If you hit a sheet of black ice for any distance you ain’t likely to be in control for long.
Personally I think the authority should be legally required to grit. WTF do we pay taxes for?
How!! By driving to the road conditions (is nt that the point of the op) I may be out of touch not being involved in highways winter maintenance for 6 six years but when I was this was what I was told. I am in no way of agreeing with my previous comment I was just merely stating what I was told and that for drivers to stay safe. For the highways to be legally obligated they would have to cover every road in the uk, which is not possible with the amount of vehicles they have.
Few patches of black ice on the m6 at about 2am last night, felt one of my wheels slip so after that I slowed it right down, was only 10-15 mins away from the yard didn’t fancy an accident after doing fine for 12 hours
sadly far to many people don’t adjust their driving according to the conditions, we see it with the fog all the time.
on the whole the a14/12 seemed fine, bit of a shine to the road, so i did ease it back abit on a few of the naughty bends.
better to be safe than sorry, and all that.
chilistrucker:
sadly far to many people don’t adjust their driving according to the conditions, .
followed a car west on a66 about 13.30 ish thick fog … not a light on .never mind a fog light . crazy
weeto:
…ice was clearly visible in lane 2 but didn’t stop the bravest of the brave to run flat out, even after passing the jackknifed turners truck on the east bound carriage way, they were still at it.
Dikkheads
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.
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This is what we have to put up with in this industry now complete bell ends with no brains to adjust there speed to thE conditions
I was on the a14 today Pretty foggy. You still had the loons on the limiter in the outside lane(wich is not just stupid but illegal as the speed limit is 50)
The trucks nowadays might drive like cars but they are not cars and will not stop on a sixpence slow down get there in one piece
its amazing how easily people become complacent.
everyone sat happily in their small or big metal box, and 99.9% of the time we are all fine, but there will always be the what if.
never ceases to amaze me how many people drive in exactly, their same way, no matter what the conditions. its amazing how quickly that metal box, no matter how big or small, can easily become a lump of twisted and charred metal, that you may not walk away from.
i was driving to merthyr last week to do a changeover, its a long run, so you want to keep a move on, as on a clear run with a loaded box, its about 4 hours 20 minutes driving. the wind and rain had been bad, but once i got on the bridge it got really nasty, and stayed like it till about j30. really hammering down, and the rain was properly sideways with the winds, some of the gusts were real ■■■■ clenchers, it was abit like a freak mini storm, i eased off for a fair stretch, down to 40 mph at times. easing off cost me, as i couldn’t quite make the job in one hit, so had a 45, which bcause of the tightness of this run, (longest i do) also meant i’d now have to get another 45 in on the way home.
hourly paid, so slowing down got me abit more money, and it got me there and back.
mr lordi:
Truckulent:
mr lordi:
As i understand it (having been a gritter driver in the past) the councils and highways agency are nt obliged to salt the roads but do do it out of courtesy. Therefore imo always assume a road has not been salted and stay safe!How?
If you hit a sheet of black ice for any distance you ain’t likely to be in control for long.
Personally I think the authority should be legally required to grit. WTF do we pay taxes for?
How!! By driving to the road conditions (is nt that the point of the op) I may be out of touch not being involved in highways winter maintenance for 6 six years but when I was this was what I was told. I am in no way of agreeing with my previous comment I was just merely stating what I was told and that for drivers to stay safe. For the highways to be legally obligated they would have to cover every road in the uk, which is not possible with the amount of vehicles they have.
and to top it off the Highways agency sub there work out to the likes of Aktins etc
msgyorkie:
I think its the pressure of the job nowadays what with deadlines and booking slots to be met. Causes people to act different! Foot down mentality is here and it ain’t going away
+1