I see the gritters are getting a hard time for last night.. The press are
reporting tonight that they, even with all the warnings, did not do a good
job.

I don't see the press reporting on how bad a job they did in reporting the
possible mayhem the weather could cause. They were happy to ignore the
weather, or at least it felt that way, and give maximum air time to the
Hutton enquiry.

I don't know how may of you on here would agree with me, but no matter how
much salt the gritters had put down on the roads, they would have never
prevented the problems that happened yesterday.

The weather played a "Trump Card" when it comes to disruption in our area. A
good snow shower in the morning leading to clear skies and rising
temperatures to help melt the snow for a few hours, thus helping to remove
salt off the roads.. Then a short burst of rain, this washed off any salt
that was left and within moments of the rain stopping, the temperature
dropped and the snow came down in every direction. This was then topped off
by a rapid freeze..

IMHO, I blame selfish drivers for blocking roads. Some felt that they had
enough skills to drive in such poor conditions but just ended up blocking up
roads. In Burton one road was closed off all because a lorry wanted to get
up a hill, any normal person would have looked at it and said, "no chance"
not with 3" of ice on the road, but no, he gave it a go and in effect closed
the road when he jack knifed.

Okay so the gritters are not perfect, they do screw up, but yesterday was
out of their control.

Does anyone else agree?

Steve


"The UK SpeedTrap Guide" @ http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk
"The UK Weather Guide" @ http://www.ukstorms.com

In article ,
"Steve @ The UK Speedtrap Guide" writes:
snip well argued piece]
Okay so the gritters are not perfect, they do screw up, but yesterday was
out of their control.

Does anyone else agree?

Yes, I do.
--
John Hall "George the Third
Ought never to have occurred.
One can only wonder
At so grotesque a blunder." E.C.Bentley (1875-1956)

"John Hall" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Steve @ The UK Speedtrap Guide" writes:
snip well argued piece]
Okay so the gritters are not perfect, they do screw up, but yesterday was
out of their control.

Does anyone else agree?

Yes, I do.

Absolutely.

Any if the gritters get out early, everyone goes on about a waste of money
because there is no snow

Jim Webster

--
John Hall "George the Third
Ought never to have occurred.
One can only wonder
At so grotesque a blunder." E.C.Bentley (1875-1956)

On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 19:05:09 +0000 (UTC), "Steve @ The UK Speedtrap
Guide" wrote:


I don't see the press reporting on how bad a job they did in reporting the
possible mayhem the weather could cause. They were happy to ignore the
weather, or at least it felt that way, and give maximum air time to the
Hutton enquiry.

Screw the media. They are getting totally and utterly out of hand
these days and really need a *severe* kicking.

I was driving back from an engagement in Buckingham talking about Frosts and
Freezes as it happened and I saw several gritters on the M25 at around
14.00hrs putting quite a cover on the motorway near Leatherhead. They were
using their new Moroccan salt rather than that from Cheshire. They had
obviously monitored the weather situation. In fact members who turned up to
the COL AGM held in Selborne last October were treated to an excellent
presentation by Paul Fishwick of the Surrey Highways Authority on Winter
road maintenance.
Ian Currie-Coulsdon
www.Frostedearth.com



Okay so the gritters are not perfect, they do screw up, but yesterday was
out of their control.

Does anyone else agree?

Steve


"The UK SpeedTrap Guide" @ http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk
"The UK Weather Guide" @ http://www.ukstorms.com

"Phil" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Jan 2004 19:05:09 +0000 (UTC), "Steve @ The UK Speedtrap
Guide" wrote:


I don't see the press reporting on how bad a job they did in reporting
the
possible mayhem the weather could cause. They were happy to ignore the
weather, or at least it felt that way, and give maximum air time to the
Hutton enquiry.

Screw the media. They are getting totally and utterly out of hand
these days and really need a *severe* kicking.


Lord Hutton is free now, as I understand. Wonder if we will get a rebate on
telly licences now that we know that the Beeb has been lying.
Scenario - Yes of course I paid my licence fee.
No you haven't
Yes I have
NO YOU HAVEN'T
Please call Lord Hutton NOW.

"Steve @ The UK Speedtrap Guide" wrote in
message ...
I see the gritters are getting a hard time for last night.. The press are
reporting tonight that they, even with all the warnings, did not do a good
job.

I don't see the press reporting on how bad a job they did in reporting the
possible mayhem the weather could cause. They were happy to ignore the
weather, or at least it felt that way, and give maximum air time to the
Hutton enquiry.

Or what bit some did give coverage to was more like the utter claptrap about
"how the expected cold spell had been delayed on its way from Canada"
(Monday) or how temperatures were expected to fall to -14C. Obviously they
are ignorant about the perception of "winchill" and the effects of the well
forecast 'low' which passed to the South on Monday.

I don't know how may of you on here would agree with me, but no matter how
much salt the gritters had put down on the roads, they would have never
prevented the problems that happened yesterday.

The weather played a "Trump Card" when it comes to disruption in our area.
A
good snow shower in the morning leading to clear skies and rising
temperatures to help melt the snow for a few hours, thus helping to remove
salt off the roads.. Then a short burst of rain, this washed off any salt
that was left and within moments of the rain stopping, the temperature
dropped and the snow came down in every direction. This was then topped
off
by a rapid freeze..

IMHO, I blame selfish drivers for blocking roads. Some felt that they had
enough skills to drive in such poor conditions but just ended up blocking
up
roads. In Burton one road was closed off all because a lorry wanted to get
up a hill, any normal person would have looked at it and said, "no chance"
not with 3" of ice on the road, but no, he gave it a go and in effect
closed
the road when he jack knifed.

Okay so the gritters are not perfect, they do screw up, but yesterday was
out of their control.

Does anyone else agree?

Here in Malvern, gritters were in evidence in many parts of the town from
Sun onwards. By Wednesday morning, having not received any of the snow from
the first of the fronts, main roads were white with salt ready for the
afternoons events.

About a year ago, I stopped buying the broadsheet I had bought regularly for
many years due to increasing 'hype' over everything, blatant distortions of
truth on some political matters to suit their own tastes, not only Party
wise but the individuals within and a general 'dumbing down' of their style.

That says it all I think!

--
Pete

Please take my dog out twice to e-mail

---------------------------------------------------------------
The views expressed above are entirely those of the writer and
do not represent the views, policy or understanding of any
other person or official body.
---------------------------------------------------------------


Steve


"The UK SpeedTrap Guide" @ http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk
"The UK Weather Guide" @ http://www.ukstorms.com

In article 401a1c6f$0$919$9b0f33e3@clyde,
Pete B writes:
About a year ago, I stopped buying the broadsheet I had bought regularly for
many years due to increasing 'hype' over everything, blatant distortions of
truth on some political matters to suit their own tastes, not only Party
wise but the individuals within and a general 'dumbing down' of their style.

If that paper was the Telegraph, I'd recommend making an exception for
today's issue, which includes a marvellous satirical piece in the Peter
Simple column about over-reaction to the snow.
--
John Hall
"Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history
that man can never learn anything from history."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

In message
"Jim Webster" wrote:


"John Hall" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Steve @ The UK Speedtrap Guide" writes:
snip well argued piece]
Okay so the gritters are not perfect, they do screw up, but yesterday was
out of their control.

Does anyone else agree?

Yes, I do.

Absolutely.

Any if the gritters get out early, everyone goes on about a waste of money
because there is no snow

Jim Webster


Ah, but once the roads are gridlocked, the gritters can't do anything anyway!
In Rugby, the local readio station announced that both the gritters owned by
Rugby yown Council were "stuck in traffic". And so was everyone else
anywhere near the place.

Martin



--
John Hall "George the Third
Ought never to have occurred.
One can only wonder
At so grotesque a blunder." E.C.Bentley (1875-1956)



--
Created on the Iyonix PC - the new RISC OS computer.

"John Hall" wrote in message
...
In article 401a1c6f$0$919$9b0f33e3@clyde,
Pete B writes:
About a year ago, I stopped buying the broadsheet I had bought regularly
for
many years due to increasing 'hype' over everything, blatant distortions
of
truth on some political matters to suit their own tastes, not only Party
wise but the individuals within and a general 'dumbing down' of their
style.

If that paper was the Telegraph, I'd recommend making an exception for
today's issue, which includes a marvellous satirical piece in the Peter
Simple column about over-reaction to the snow.

;-)

Read it online.

I usually make an exception Sat & Sun also to get the weather discussion
articles on those days.

--
Pete

Please take my dog out twice to e-mail

---------------------------------------------------------------
The views expressed above are entirely those of the writer and
do not represent the views, policy or understanding of any
other person or official body.
---------------------------------------------------------------

--
John Hall
"Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history
that man can never learn anything from history."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)