M23/A23, avoid!
Discussion
I'm working from home again today. I've got winter tyres on my car so would be fine ... if it wasn't for the gridlock in front of me. I use the A23/M23 to get to work but couldn't even get to it yesterday as there was gridlock at Turners Hill. From the news reports, I would have been sleeping in my car on the way home!
Was horrendous along the coast from Brighton eastbound. Hardly any snow settled but the surface bacame polished ice. Buses and cars abandoned everywhere and total gridlock.
Wondered what all the fuss was aboutbuntil we tried to drive up a slight incline and went nowhere, fortunately managed to turn around and find a clear-ish route home........still took 6 hours to do a 20 minute drive.
Feel sorry for all those stuck out in the cold all night - seems like the council's thought they could get away without putting the gritters out aroungd here.
Wondered what all the fuss was aboutbuntil we tried to drive up a slight incline and went nowhere, fortunately managed to turn around and find a clear-ish route home........still took 6 hours to do a 20 minute drive.
Feel sorry for all those stuck out in the cold all night - seems like the council's thought they could get away without putting the gritters out aroungd here.
BorkFactor said:
Just heard about this on the radio, for goodness sake!
I seem to be hearing about this sort of thing more and more these days (at least twice since December this year), why does it seem to be happening more often, or is this "normal"?
I suspect it's a capacity problem. The network is operating at full capacity so much of the time that it only takes a couple of accidents to cause everything to grind to a halt. Similar to Heathrow. One shower of the "wrong type of rain" and they cancel all short-haul flights to try and sort things out.I seem to be hearing about this sort of thing more and more these days (at least twice since December this year), why does it seem to be happening more often, or is this "normal"?
BorkFactor said:
Just heard about this on the radio, for goodness sake!
I seem to be hearing about this sort of thing more and more these days (at least twice since December this year), why does it seem to be happening more often, or is this "normal"?
Normal and it will get worse. Due to the ever increasing population and house building, the roads in the south east are struggling to cope with the ever increasing numbers of vehicles. Add to this the lack of funding which in turn leads to crap road surfaces. Then also add in the fact that in general Snow is a rare occurrence, people just have no idea how to drive in it! There is no formal training, many people just jump in their cars with no thought of weather or road conditions. Many drivers seem oblivious to conditions around them. You then have the Councils and Highway agencies trying to save monies performing the bare minimum of works in an effort to save monies. Remember Public information films? They used to have these on TV bit like a party political broadcast. There needs to be a re education for drivers,(it would also have to be in a lot of non English language's too) I seem to be hearing about this sort of thing more and more these days (at least twice since December this year), why does it seem to be happening more often, or is this "normal"?
telling them to carry basic things like shovel, blanket, Tow rope etc. And more importantly know how to use the items they have packed. Snow socks are now available on the Internet as are tyre chains but lets be honest how many drivers would want to get their suite or clothing dirty to fit them! Many drivers think its appropriate to call out the AA or RAC to change a bloody tyre, quite frankly if you cant do this IMO you should not be on the bloody road.So to answer your question, Yes you will see this year on year!
I was working around Brighton and Hove last night - most of the roads were sheet ice, and any sign of an incline caused problems for many motorists. Cars were being abandoned left, right and centre, and roads became blocked as certain vehicles struggled with various hills. This had a knock-on effect on congestion, and I spoke with plenty of people who had be stationary for ages due to the gridlock.
By the time I was heading home (10:30pm) the roads were fairly deserted, thankfully.
By the time I was heading home (10:30pm) the roads were fairly deserted, thankfully.
Yep, advocating winter tyres is all very well and good until you find yourself behind a queue of scores of motorists who don't have them... And that's before you factor in the fact that the average UK motorist just has no idea about driving on ice/snow- the road is only mobile until some clot who is happily oblivious to how hard their tyres are working comes a cropper and loses it into the central reservation.
A lex said:
Tyres are definitely more of an issue.
With the correct tyres on, it really doesnt matter if the council have gritted or not.
Yeah right, I must pop out and get another set of wheels and tyres for each of my cars. All for the 7 days or so a year when the roads are remotely tricky in the SE. While I'm at it, I could get a set of spiked ones for those one in thirty year cold snaps when lakes freeze over and such.With the correct tyres on, it really doesnt matter if the council have gritted or not.
It's a one night non-story.
9mm said:
Yeah right, I must pop out and get another set of wheels and tyres for each of my cars. All for the 7 days or so a year when the roads are remotely tricky in the SE. While I'm at it, I could get a set of spiked ones for those one in thirty year cold snaps when lakes freeze over and such.
Sigh. Another well informed piece of gibberish about winter tyres.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff