According to South Worcestershire Police accidents were up 1,000% the other day thanks to the icy road conditions.
I’d be surprised if it was only 1,000% here in Telford because the roads on Wednesday were lethal. The council sent the gritters out the night before but they’ve started using this new type of grit which is based on molasses (sugar) which is, of course, cheaper that salt-based grit. They were warned by a motorists group a couple of weeks ago in the local paper that this new grit was dangerous but it’s cheaper so they carried on regardless.
The roads were largely clear of ice and frost but they were still slippery. Dangerously so, in fact, judging by the mangled cars that still litter the grass roads around Telford. The council blamed the diabolical road conditions on a surprise frost in the early hours of the morning (there was no frost on the roads but never mind) but some of it may have been down to what my dad saw the other night – a gritter followed by a road sweeper. I kid you not – grit on, sweep off.
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molasses based grit will also have the advantage of not melting the roads, the nasty rock salt grit we use is the main reasons our cars rust so badly and our roads are in such a shitty condition.
Also, it will mostly be the less able to think clearly, who will suffer crashes, if you are not careful in bad conditions, maybe you should’nt be driving?
Did the road sweepers recycle the grit?