I think I’ve figured out what the Nottingham City and County Councils are doing to conserve rock salt. Take a look at this video clip from yesterday (Saturday).
[flv:/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/snow_on_road.flv 480 360]See how one side of the road is clear, and yet the other side is covered in snow. Also notice how in some places it is obviously treated, but then it suddenly changes again to untreated. Clever, isn’t it? Just grit half the road!
The problem is that driving from treated to untreated then back again is extremely dangerous for anyone, let alone for inexperienced drivers.
EDIT 4/1/2010: Just watching BBC Nottingham News and they are laying into the Notts and Leics councils for their appalling performances in gritting roads.
Specifically, roads in Mapperley and Carlton in Nottingham are actually closed off. This is in the middle of a large city, where the primitive minds of the council are determined to force everyone else to live in the Stone Age!
I had to pick a pupil up from one of these roads today and there has been absolutely no attempt whatsoever to keep them open. It is sheet ice everywhere. It seems that there was a further dusting of snow last night in some areas, and Mapperley had most of it – and that was on top of a temperature of between -4°C and -5°C when I went out this morning.
On the TV, the council said that on roads where they can’t grit they provide gritting bins. The reporter showed quite clearly that these bins are empty, and said “what’s the point in providing them if they aren’t filled up? ” The programme shows roads littered with abandoned cars, chocked with bricks, which the owners simply haven’t been able to move. One young girl crashed into a wall while they were filming.
I have seen no more than 3 or 4 gritting lorries since the snow began before Christmas – and I am out on the road a lot. I saw dozens more of them back in February last year.
To make matters worse, heavy snow is forecast for Nottingham tomorrow.