Coldest winter in 100 years on its way!

[Pagan-Mist]

Well we had leaves on train lines most places grind to halt at a scattering of snow, heavy snow fall our esteemed council get caught with their long johns down due to another grit shortage mmm a bit of deja vu somewhere kicking in

[Scythe13]

The wife looks forward to the time off work.

[Pagan-Mist]

Only knocking the council their bloody useless I remeber 2 yrs ago the grit shortage we were snowed in for over a week I think it was 2 still we was prepared, I wouldn't personally knock any that get the time off and fair play to them

[NorthernRaider]

Aye it takes only the slightest wiff of bad weather for the entire public sector to grind to a halt, schools shut incase teacher falls over, buses , metros stopped, council workers instantly give up citing HSE rules. The rest of society has to just get on with things.

[Metroyeti]

People must see the uk and laugh. The rest of the world gets feet of snow and everything runs smoothly.we get two inches the airports shut public transports gone and people forget how to drive.

[Tarrel]

Not making excuses or anything; some of the incompetence we've seen over the last 2-3 years is inexcusable. However, we do get pretty rotten conditions here in our maritime climate. Temperatures hover around freezing, resulting in thaw and re-freeze conditions, whereas the Scandinavians (often cited) tend to have dry, hard-packed snow to drive on.

Winter tyres make a huge difference, and we seem to be waking up to that here, slowly.

Road design here is appalling. There doesn't seem to be any attempt to take winter driving conditions into account. Housing estates have winding roads and pinch-points. There are roundabouts everywhere. People are allowed to park on the street, restricting the traffic flow to 1.5 lanes. All of this conspires to create snarl-ups and accidents in snowy conditions. In Canada, road junctions have traffic lights, not roundabouts. Roads are in straight lines, and on-street parking is in designated bays, allowing traffic to flow freely in both directions (or the street is made one-way). Oh, and it's a legal requirement to clear the snow from the sidewalk in front of your property. If you're too old, or can't be a**ed, you have to pay someone else to do it.

At the end of the day, it's difficult to ignore the "return on investment" issue with regards to winter preparation. Our winter season is pretty short compared to many of the countries we compare ourselves to. We're simply not going to get the return on investment (in terms of maintaining productivity) for long enough each year to make it a financially sound proposition to invest in huge amounts of equipment. There probably is an argument that says; "Let the country grind to a halt for a few days each year. It makes more financial sense". Unless the Gulf Stream grinds to a halt of course..

In the final analysis, I think a lot of our problems are caused by too many people, driving too many cars, in too small a space.

[Scythe13]

(17 November 2012, 23:39)Metroyeti Wrote: People must see the uk and laugh. The rest of the world gets feet of snow and everything runs smoothly.we get two inches the airports shut public transports gone and people forget how to drive.

I have a great trick to driving in the snow. Keep in a low gear....to get more wheel spin, and use the handbreak to start your turn into corners!!! That's how I first 360ed my car!!! Can usually hit a nice 180 on most roundabouts!!! Hours of fun!!! Only use this technique if you like airbags! haha, on a serious note, don't drive like that in the snow!!!

Genuine tips for driving in the snow...
Tip 1. Don't do it.
Tip 2. Use a high gear
Tip 3. Don't touch the accelerator! No really....unless you want to die, or kill someone else.
Tip 4. ALL accelerating and 90% of breaking comes from your gear's
Tip 5. Start in SECOND gear....very slowly bringing the clutch up to get you moving.
Tip 6. Feather the break, if you have to! But only if you have to! It's better to drop down a gear and let that slow you down.
Tip 7. If you are turning, start turning well ahead of time, but take it very slowly. Don't break, maybe even go into a higher gear to turn.
Tip 8. ALWAYS be 1 gear higher than you think you should be in!!! 1st gear no longer exists! You start in second, and to accelerate, you go up a gear and gently work the clutch.....not the accelerator!!! Same with breaking, you go down a gear, but SLOWLY engage the clutch.
Tip 9. You need to leave at LEAST 10 times the typical stopping distance. Don't forget, you can stop quickly, but at the same time, you could just start sliding when you engage the break (see Tip. 4 and 6 for help with this).
Tip 10. Make sure you're using your seatbelt, and that your car has airbags.
Tip 11. See tip 1.
Tip 12. See tip 11.

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All of the above things are VERY helpful and should be practiced in a quiet carpark at the first sign of snow!

Obviously, I'm only speaking about driving. I'm taking it that common sense (even for the sheeple) that you should include a sleeping bag, food, water, glow sticks, mobile phone, extra clothing, snow shovel, rock-salt, and the alike, in your car from late Autumn to early Spring.

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Oh, and one more thing....

I've been driving in the snow in some damn stupid conditions (Christmas 2 years ago, -10 degrees, 3am...after midnight snowboarding), and I've learned.....don't get too cocky or confident!!! If you get even a little over confident, you WILL get taught respect for icy roads!!!

[bigpaul]

there seems to be a lack of road mending out here in the countryside, this area seems to be good for gulley cleaning, see that all the time but we have really rough roads around here that havent been repaired for years and years, when they eventually get around to it they PATCH little bits of it instead of relaying the whole road,as for pot holes i dont know why they even bother, they chuck a bit of tar mixed in with some chippings and the very next rain shower washes it all out and its back to where it was before they "repaired" it.

[Highlander]

We both drive for a living in this house I do about 150 miles a day, and the wifes job involves quiet a bit of off roading [ forrestry tracks ],..and we have to be out every day, we are not allowed snow chains [ although I have been known to use them,.. who would know that far away ]... the wife at least has a 4x4 to use, but often I have seen her pushing snow with her bumper

Tarrel made a good post about the `wrong sort of snow`,... when `Sandy` was being reported on, I watched an American reporter talking about the snow conditions, and he scraped away some of the snow,..and said something like... ` and look at this under the snow, its really wet, extreamly dangerous, its not normal, I was having troble walking , we left the car and walked here`

he was talking about the snow condition we get as normal

Another example, does anyone watch the telly series `Ice road truckers`,.. they are great snow drivers, but they couldnt do what they do Alaska,... in the uk

I have experience in driveing in Norway when I was in the army, and its not half as bad here, its colder, and the ice that forms within the snow hold a lot of grip

We have the wrong sort of snow....lol

[Paul]

Just as long as the snow doesn't get covered with the wrong British Rail leaves we're all going to be OK.