Dot - Icy Roads - Questions.

[Lee54]

Well I banged mine this morning rounding a corner at the bottom of hill at about 10mph, while waiting for the tow truck I had the greatest of fun watching three others do the same thing within an hour. And yes I did report my accident and the road conditions to the DOT, who still never bothered to grit the road.

[TerryMcCann]

If they had A DoT gritter probably would have crashed into you as you waited

[Lee54]

If they had A DoT gritter probably would have crashed into you as you waited

 

And it was on a bus rout which I always thought took priority

[WilDDog]

You want some snow - some real snow? http://gallery.ham-radio.ch/main.php?g2_itemId=16672 I would love to see the Island just get one of the small dumps we get every few days :-)

 

I've said this before "you're lucky" living there and getting all that lovely snow dude,

[Lost Login]

they were crap at gritting the road last year, in fact there crap at it every year, but what do you expect

 

I agree that often the roads are not gritted when you might expect hem to be but the last few days I have seen them out and about a fair bit and there does appear to have been a fair bit put down. Although we have had some heavy showers which I presume at the same time waskhes some away.

 

Now I have no real knowledge of gritting but I was always of the opinion that unless the salt had got into a puddle in sufficient concentration for it to stop it freezing for gritting to be effective it also relied on the passage of vehicles over the gritted road. The reason for this is that pressure also decreases the freezing point which allows the salt to dissolve into the water which then stops it refreezing. The passage of vehicles therefore is integral to the gritting process.

 

This makes sense to me as if salt was especially effective on its own you would never see frost or snow built up on stockpilled grit/salt.

 

If the above is correct then it explains why the roads might be icy early in the morning as there has been insuuficient use to make the gritting effective.

 

However that is all guess work and it would be interesting to here from an "expert" how effective gritting really is on little used roads, down to what temperatures and how often a reasonably busy road needs to re gritted as from reading many of the comments here is seems some expect that if the roads are gritted sufficiently thentaht solves all problems. I do not believe it is the case and the truth lies somewhere in between but I would be interested in knowing a bit more.

[The Thriller]

When wondering why they don't get out on the roads earlier it might be down to the people who drive the gritters taking it easy on their way to the depot to pick up the gritters, or perhaps you think they fly to work or slumber like firemen on site in case it gets a wee bit nippy. They had to pirouette in their cars more than likely just to get to the gritters.

 

One driver lives next the depot

[hboy]

I've got a rear wheel drive car that puts about 250bhp through the back axle. Can we stop the gritters going out tomorrow. This morning was big fun

[House]

I've got a rear wheel drive car that puts about 250bhp through the back axle. Can we stop the gritters going out tomorrow. This morning was big fun

 

What sort of car do you drive?

[WilDDog]

One driver lives next the depot

 

Ah but he might not be the driver on call.

 

I've heard that once the temperature gets to -4/-5 the salt is practicaly useless it doesn't work.

[Fossils]

Most people reading this thread may never have seen a gritter. Here is a photo of one of the beasts of fable. Unfortunately I could only find this one operating in England as few people manage to spot a IOM DoT gritter in action (unless they live in Birch Hill, Onchan):

 

[Mission]

I've heard that once the temperature gets to -4/-5 the salt is practicaly useless it doesn't work.

 

It can't have been far off that last night surely? It was -1 at 8:45 this morning.

[Sheriff Buford T. Justice]

A gritter woke me up this morning at 6:10 going past my house as I slept with my eyes open. Bloody orange lights.

[molly]

the gritters were out round glenvine estate last night about 10 o clock also seen loads of gritters on me travels round the town also.

[Amadeus]

Most people reading this thread may never have seen a gritter. Here is a photo of one of the beasts of fable. Unfortunately I could only find this one operating in England as few people manage to spot a IOM DoT gritter in action (unless they live in Birch Hill, Onchan):

 

You have to look harder then

 

 

One driver lives next the depot

 

I've heard that once the temperature gets to -4/-5 the salt is practicaly useless it doesn't work.

I somehow doubt that - normal salt should work to at least -9/-10 if used properly. For temparatures lower than that you can get different mixtures that will still work. Trust me - grew up surrounded by snow and seen many a gritter out and working at down to -30

[Saltire]

This was the dhoon at 4.30, my vehicle wouldnt go any further, I drove round most of douglas, onchan and laxey and NOT one of them roads had salt on them.

 

it was at 6.30 when I first spotted a Salt wagon at Douglas harbour.

 

Some of them comments from clever bastards about driving on Ice is absolute toss, ice is very unpredictable.

 

Agree with you there. As someone who lives in the frozen north, aka Scotland we have our fair share of ice. Yes keeping your speed down, accelerating, steering and braking gently help on ice but there is no absolute guarantee that you won't get caught out even at slow speeds. In a past winter I drove down the hill from my street at about 5mph, gently turned the wheel for the left hand bend at the bottom and the car glided straight on into the kerb!

 

Driving on fresh snow much more fun than ice.