Why the roads are so slippery.

[BliarOut]

Had an interesting conversation last night. My mate had taken his birds MR2 for some new rear tyres as it was sliding out even at "driving miss daisy" speeds. While he was chatting the owner of they tyre place came out with an interesting comment. Apparently he has spoken to someone at the council and they are now mixing sugar beet pulp in with the grit around here and have been doing it for two years. Now this neatly coincides with my view that the winter roads have had less traction for the last two winters.

I haven't had a chance to look into it much yet, but it would certainly explain the vagueness many of us have been experiencing. Apparently it aids traction in icy conditions but becomes very slippery when the residue becomes damp. It needs a good downpour to shift it properly.

Anyone else heard about this?

[Moose.]

Not heard about this, but this winter I've noticed there's much less grip than the past ones. My Polo's spinning it's wheels with very little effort. Even my dad commented on the lack of grip after he got his Volvo 940 estate VERY sideways round a roundabout without even trying!

[sleep envy]

Was talking to the guy on the next desk at work about this after Sunday's Tunnel Run when I crossed Westminster Bridge with 1/4 lock on to keep it pointing straight.

Him and his missus are both bikers and have both noticed this after a few scary moments.

Apparently this mix 'sticks' to the wearing course far longer than the old style grit and was brought in as a cost saving measure to save the gritting trucks going out every night

[Fat Audi 80]

Does not really bother me in a car, as I am generally careful that this time of year, but if I was a biker I could imagine some proper brown trouser moments....

[benyeats]

I had heard about the sugar beet theory. Would agree the roads are much slippier this year.

Ben

[scorp]

Roads near me are very slippy i've noticed, best time of the year for RWD cars

[L100NYY]

Would have to agree that the roads are horrendously slippy this winter, I thought it might just be me!

[alfaman]

interesting ...... have been wondering why my ABS keeps kicking in while drivng gently round town , and front wheels losing traction. country roads in the cotswolds were REALLY greasy last weekend - combination of mud and the sugar beet stuff ?

[scorp]

Moose. said:

Not heard about this, but this winter I've noticed there's much less grip than the past ones. My Polo's spinning it's wheels with very little effort. Even my dad commented on the lack of grip after he got his Volvo 940 estate VERY sideways round a roundabout without even trying!

A volvo going sideways on a roundabout wouldn't like to be anyone in the outside lane...

[zippee]

That explains why my Chim is such a handful at the moment. Even on what look like really dry roads theres little grip. I thought it was just me.
Surely something can be done about this as it makes the roads extremely dangerous.

[dern]

It might just be that (around here at any rate) we haven't had any proper rain for ages and there's a greater than normal build up of salt and other winter gunge and then the low temps make it slippy. It seems pretty lethal in the westfield especially late in the day but that's mainly because I can't get any heat in the tyres. It's not that bad on the bike at all on the commute unless there's a slight mist or a bit of drizzle which slicks up the dirty road surface.

Regards,

Mark

[andyconda]

Did some Googling on this. Sugar beet products like "Ice Beeter" seem to used a lot in America. The slipperyness sounds quite nasty, but at least take some comfort in the fact that it's less corrosive than salt...

www.forester.net/sw_0106_deicing.html

[minicity]

I can't remember it raining round my way (in Kent) for about 2 months! I had assumed that was the problem here.

[nelly1]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/3487664.s

[BliarOut]

Interesting... That's from 2004, so the timing is about right. Looks like the bloke in the tyre place was right then.

[mybrainhurts]

It's all part of Aliatair Darling's Masterplan.....

[Yugguy]

I've found it slippy as this year as well. Explains a lot. Also the problem is that we haven't had a decent rainfall in England for about 3 months.

[scorp]

mybrainhurts said:

It's all part of Aliatair Darling's Masterplan.....

Fine by me, hadn't had this much fun taking the inside lane of a roundabout for ages

[Jonna_Rex]

Guys, that´s what winter is all about

[m1spw]

Fat Audi 80 said:

but if I was a biker I could imagine some proper brown trouser moments....