Are we getting soft?

[andybysea]

TallMikeM,
I was being a bit tongue in cheek and refering to euro star being down to damp from the snow(come on) and trains being stopped due to leaves on the lines etc, the excuses are a bit wet(shouldnt say that pc may crash co's of it)

 

[Leonidas]

MOD hat firmly on

Please do not turn this thread into a political discussion.

cheers,
Toddy

Curious......I've read this thread several times, where was the political discussion aspect creeping into the thread?
Have I missed something.....just checking

Tom

 

[apj1974]

One thing I've always wondered, is in the Northern European countries where they have regular snow, do they have a few days of chaos and ungritted roads, with the first snow and then settle in to getting on with it, or are they prepared from day 1.

Talking about preparedness for this weather, why dont we have a lot more grit bins about then we could do it ourselves (cheaper than snow ploughs etc) and then at least my street might get gritted.

Top tip - dishwasher salt, cheaper and coarser than cooking salt, great for your drive.

 

[Toddy]

Curious......I've read this thread several times, where was the political discussion aspect creeping into the thread?
Have I missed something.....just checking

Tom

It's been edited

cheers,
M

 

[Leonidas]

It's been edited

cheers,
M

Aha...another mini mystery solved......thought I was cracking up there for a mo'

Tom

 

[stevec]

One thing I've always wondered, is in the Northern European countries where they have regular snow, do they have a few days of chaos and ungritted roads, with the first snow and then settle in to getting on with it, or are they prepared from day 1.

Talking about preparedness for this weather, why dont we have a lot more grit bins about then we could do it ourselves (cheaper than snow ploughs etc) and then at least my street might get gritted.

Top tip - dishwasher salt, cheaper and coarser than cooking salt, great for your drive.

I had cause to go to Finland a few times in my last job, once on the 5th jan. so it was cold and snowy. and yes, when the first snows hit, there is a rash of small accidents etc from ice/snow skiddy type things according to the blokes who iwas working with.

steve

 

[TallMikeM]

TallMikeM,
I was being a bit tongue in cheek and refering to euro star being down to damp from the snow(come on) and trains being stopped due to leaves on the lines etc, the excuses are a bit wet(shouldnt say that pc may crash co's of it)

I don't know what happened to the eurostar, tho I'd struggle to call that "the whole country grinding to a halt".
As for the leaves on the line, wasn't that years ago? I kinda assumed from your post that you were referring to the current bout of bad weather.

 

[locum76]

Why is it that other countries have far worse weather than us but the whole country and travel doesnt grind to a halt with a inch or so of snow and -1 degree temperature.
Plus agree with above we pay over the odd's for most things, so we kinda expect but not always receive a good service.

I was stuck in my car, stationary on the M8 for over four hours last night because a lorry jack knifed in about 4 inches of snow. Fortunately we had mince pies and sweets and juice so we played a couple of games and the time passed soon enough.

There was loads of other roads closed because of jack knifed lorries. It makes our lorry drivers seem a bit 'soft' and a bit rubbish compared to the likes of the Ice road Truckers.

 

[fred gordon]

No disrespect but I think 'soft' is perhaps the wrong word here. I can't disagree with most of what's been said but I think we are less and less willing to think and take responsibility for our own actions. This covers ourselves but also companies like Eurostar and many many others. How often have we heard that 'no representative was available, but we have a statement'. Just another way of avoiding awkward questions. However, we can make a difference by leading from the front. Taking responsibility for our actions and teaching our kids that they are responsibile for what they do and others are responsible for what they do. :sad6:

 

[susi]

... or are they prepared from day 1.

As Steve says, yes there are a few bumps early on, especially if people havent changed to winter tyres and forget they havent We use much less salt here, because it pollutes the ground water. Most roads near me either packed snow, sheet ice, or if there hasnt been precipitation for some tine, sometimes bone dry! Of course if we get a blizzard, roads are open as soon as they are ploughed, but with the large number of ploughs, this is usually fairly quick

 

[susi]

. It makes our lorry drivers seem a bit 'soft' and a bit rubbish compared to the likes of the Ice road Truckers.

Oh don't be too hard on them Even with studded winter tyres, i got stuck in my own car park a couple of years ago. A few inches of snow and i needed mats and a shovel to get out

 

[andybysea]

TallMikeM Im refering in my posts about the reasons given for things to be cancelled in this country be it now or in years gone by,as for euro star i heard last night that it had ground to a halt due to dampness caused by snow wether this is correct or not cant really use the excuse that we dont have snow very often so we dont prepare for it, because we have dampness quite alot be it snow or rain so its one thing we should be prepared for and like i say i was being tongue in cheek and didnt mean THE WHOLE COUNTRY had ground to a halt literaly it was said with a bit of humour.

 

[demographic]

Not really a matter of being "Soft" its more a matter of being prepared for the expected conditions. With a few warm winters recently the councils have got out of the swing of gritting much and snow ploughs seem to be a forgotten idea.

We don't really get enough of any weather to be fully prepared for any of it, no point putting snow chains on if we only have a few days of snow is there.
Most British winters* just consist of slashing rain

People often hold other countries up as an example of how to do things but I bet that they still get caught out like us.

That's a big Meh from me then.












*And summers for that matter

 

[apj1974]

I had cause to go to Finland a few times in my last job, once on the 5th jan. so it was cold and snowy. and yes, when the first snows hit, there is a rash of small accidents etc from ice/snow skiddy type things according to the blokes who iwas working with.

steve

Thanks Steve and Susi, that confirms my theory, that a big part of our problem in (most of) the UK is that we only get a week or so of snow at a time, so don't really get chance to adapt to it properly. We don't have winter tyres because the expense wouldn't justify a few days.

Cheers

Alan

 

[susi]

We don't have winter tyres because the expense wouldn't justify a few days.

Yup sounds about right Alan

Seems there are different strategies:

UK - Apply salt to melt the ice/snow to stop skidding. Plough snow if needed.

Nordic - Plough snow, don't worry too much about the ice as people have winter tyres. Some main roads salted, but of course when it is very cold the salt is useless anyway.


(For anyone interested in the stats, Finland uses around 80,000 tons of road salt a year, the UK can use 100,000 tons in a single night. There are 400,000 Km of road in the UK and about 100,000 Km of road in Finland, so you have four times as much road! But salt is probably a cheaper option than having to resurface roads every 3 years because of tyre stud damage, and that's with our light traffic levels. There are ten times as many cars in the UK, so maybe with winter tyres your roads would require resurfacing every 4 months or so! Think of the disruption!)