Road chaos today

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233

Soldato
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Well certainly up here in Scotland Just spoke to my mate who has just got home after spending 10 hours on the m80 the m8 is just as bad and still suffering tailbacks

According to the news there are still people stuck on the m80 ATM and unfortunately I can imagine there will be a fatality or 2 out there tonight with it dropping past -10

It just amazes me how I'll prepared we are as a country for adverse weather like this I mean plenty of other countries cope why can't we?
 
We're generally ill prepared because this country in general sees so little snow. Down south it's unusual if we get proper snow just once a year :(
 
The trouble is, it only takes a few people to be unprepared for it to cause massive problems for everyone.

I was fine driving in the snow last year, but could not get anywhere because I lived on a main road that was gridlocked for around 8 miles.
 
Do the other countries cope though ?

The ones that cope do so because the snow can be predicted to within a few weeks. And they've got a long history of investing in the tools required to keep the transport network open.

We need more heated rails, more trains with snow ploughs, more highways depots, more stockpiles of rocksalt, stuff that we just havent the money for.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11897825

Well worth a read.
 
Or we just need to use dump trucks and farmers with snowplough attachments to clear the roads ...
 
-10 and such problems.. :/ when i lived in Lithuania normally we would have -20-28 in some days.. no problems driving at all.. and trust me the read gritting was non existent back then... they did use the snowplough trucks on the main roads tho :)
 
My friend was on the M8 for 7 hours apparently. It sounded like a nightmare, I think this winter and previous certainly stresses how much people need to prepare in advance now. It happens every blooming year.
 
Well he posted that he got off the m8 only four hours ago so to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if it was. :(
 
just checked the bbc website before i head to work seemingly 500 were stuck on the m8 overnight.


be prepared and be safe anyone venturing out today :)


i'm off to work now, wish me luck :)
 
Mate texted 20 mins ago.. Just got home.

I've just travelled to the airport from the west and the roads were fine, apart from the rutted ice tracks and freezing fog. No more snow though
 
Thing is, other parts of Europe actually close airports down for a couple of months, as well as changing the way they work etc... certainly in the USA in Chicago for example, close airports and a lot of areas because the snow is too much to manage.

Other countries are affected, but have built up an infrastructure behind it to be able to run in parallel rather than try and go against nature.
 
Foxtrot26 said:
I mean plenty of other countries cope why can't we?
Click to expand...

Why do people ALWAYS ask this? It's got to be one of the most dim questions around. If you think about it, it's fairly obvious why other countries cope better than us.

In places like Austria, the snow arrives in November and doesnt go away again until March. Every year, like clockwork. It always arrives, stays for 5 months, then goes away. It is therefore exceptionally easy to plan for this sort of thing and coping with snow is just something everyone has grown up with. And even then it isnt completely normal life when it snows. Every single year, snow falls in the mountains in California. What do they do? They close Tioga Pass - the main road into Yosemite Park from Nevada. Closed. Not ploughed, not gritted, closed. For up to 5 months, with a hundreds of mile detour instead.

In the UK, snow is rare. Yes, thats right, snow is rare. Prior to the shock arrival of snow in early 2009, we had no less than 7 consecutive very mild winters with little of any snow in much of the UK. Therefore coping in snow is not just another part of life for people in this country. It is extremely difficult to adaquetely prepare for completely random events.

And this particular snow-session is really rather abnormal - even places in Europe used to snow are having problems coping. It isnt just us. People are DYING in Poland, Airports are shut in Germany. My girlfriend is in Germany at the moment where there is also loads of snow and has commented on seeing cars stuck everywhere, even with the super special amazing winter tyres that apparently are like the second coming of jesus.

We can't cope with snow for the same reason that Norway wouldnt be able to cope with a 2 month 35c heatwave, or southern Spain wouldnt cope with snow.

It's really not that hard to work out, is it?
 
[TW]Fox;17948086 said:
My girlfriend is in Germany at the moment where there is also loads of snow and has commented on seeing cars stuck everywhere, even with the super special amazing winter tyres that apparently are like the second coming of jesus.
Click to expand...

Ha ha good post as usual that line made me laugh. In other news my 7 am flight has just been cancelled due to fog ice on the runway. Boo
 
As a starting point for the solution, you should be asking the question of why motorists in the usually affected area haven't coughed up for a new set of cheap steelies with winter tyres. If they did that, would solve most of the problems.
Unfortunately we live in a country run by accountants, so there's no chance of that.
 
It appears a large problem was jack knifed lorries. Not all car drivers faults. Although, car drivers should not cut in front of the trucks as this causes them brake thus jackknifing.

I just heard on the radio that the problem today is apparently 'not enough cars on the road to activate the salt'. After 3 days of saying don't go out unless nessacary.

Well for most people work is nessacary.
 
[TW]Fox;17948086 said:
My girlfriend is in Germany at the moment where there is also loads of snow
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well if the snow is 3ft deep, the snow is 3 ft deep and no winter tyres will get you trought it.

The problem is that in England the same amount of chaos happens when the snow isn't even 2 inches deep. :D
 
The snow is actually well over 3ft deep where I am and it's likely to be there for days. ;)

I took 2 and a half hours to do what is normally a 10-15 minute commute last night and I was one of the lucky ones. Some folk were stranded on the motorway which runs past the back of my house, all night.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
As a starting point for the solution, you should be asking the question of why motorists in the usually affected area haven't coughed up for a new set of cheap steelies with winter tyres. If they did that, would solve most of the problems.
Unfortunately we live in a country run by accountants, so there's no chance of that.
Click to expand...

Yes because im going to go and spend £200 for tyres/wheels that would only probably see about 50 miles use?

Cost/Benefit analysis says no :p
 
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