subject: Road Gritting in the Winter [print this page] As drivers in the UK, we are always aware that the snow in the winter is going to pose a bit of a problem when we want to get around our daily lives. And we rely heavily on the salt and gritting Lorries to aid us in our journeys, or we end up snowed in. Winter 2009 was an interesting year for us drivers, as most of the counties in the UK ran out of salt, meaning that we have nothing to grit the roads with, and causing havoc across Britain.
So the worry is that this year the government may have made the same mistake. Last year, the budgets across the country only accounted for enough money to buy salt for 6 continuous days of freezing weather, and they actually carried quarter of a million tonnes of grit less that they had a decade ago. The government were criticised early in 2008 for the same issue, where they had not accounted for the weather, and therefore thousands of drivers were left vulnerable, snowed into their villages and stuck in road accidents on Britain's roads.
Car owners need to be really careful when driving during snow fall to protect their no claims bonus. Around one thousand people are killed or seriously injured in the snowy and icy weather conditions each winter, and casualty departments in the local hospitals are often inundated with people who have slipped and fallen, with grit being used for roads as opposed to pavements. Investing in snow and ice clearance is vital to protect people from injury.
