Will they ever stop salting the roads all the time?

[Bobtherallyfan]

Just been told Hampshire are salting the roads yet again tonight…the current forecast in my area is a minimum of 4 degrees for goodness sake. I seem to remember roads being salted about twice a year in the South, now it’s twice a day. At this rate my cars are going to be SORNed until about May. Rant over.

[Megaflow]

They have got to justify next years budget somehow

[SimonTheSailor]

They've never salted the roads ALL the time.

[irc]

Probably using up the budget so it isn't cut next year.

[Panamax]

IIRC local authorities "lose" any money from their budget that remains unspent at the end of the year and their years end on 5 April. Hence, if they haven't used it already, there's much greater enthusiasm to throw salt around in February than in October.

[ShinyPsyduck]

I am also waiting for the roads to dry out and for the grit to stop being spilt over our roads. Been itching to take the nice car out but looking at the news we are to receive another cold front towards the end of February!

[MKnight702]

Possibly using it all up before the best before date, because you know that given that the stuff is 200 million years old it's bound to go off 6 months after delivery.

[donkmeister]

Bobtherallyfan said:

Just been told Hampshire are salting the roads yet again tonight…the current forecast in my area is a minimum of 4 degrees for goodness sake. I seem to remember roads being salted about twice a year in the South, now it’s twice a day. At this rate my cars are going to be SORNed until about May. Rant over.

You realise cars aren't made out of slugs, I hope?

Underseal is your friend, and one of those pressure sprayer underbody attachments if really worried.

[LunarOne]

donkmeister said:

Bobtherallyfan said:

Just been told Hampshire are salting the roads yet again tonight…the current forecast in my area is a minimum of 4 degrees for goodness sake. I seem to remember roads being salted about twice a year in the South, now it’s twice a day. At this rate my cars are going to be SORNed until about May. Rant over.

You realise cars aren't made out of slugs, I hope?

Judging by the speed of that Prius yesterday, I suspect they are made out of slugs. Which technically makes them more edible than kale...

[WelshRich]

Panamax said:

IIRC local authorities "lose" any money from their budget that remains unspent at the end of the year and their years end on 5 April. Hence, if they haven't used it already, there's much greater enthusiasm to throw salt around in February than in October.

I’ve heard this mentioned since I was a kid and coincidentally, my daughter relayed the same story only yesterday - Her driving instructor had told her that this was the reason behind the glut of roadworks/temporary lights in town at the moment.

Is it actually true though?

I can see how they might postpone non-critical stuff until the end of the year to keep a contingency in case something urgent crops up but would they really do stuff that doesn’t actually need doing just to protect their budget for following years?

I’m not so naive to believe that this couldn’t happen, but does anyone have inside knowledge that it definitely does?

[Lo-Fi]

donkmeister said:

Bobtherallyfan said:

Just been told Hampshire are salting the roads yet again tonight…the current forecast in my area is a minimum of 4 degrees for goodness sake. I seem to remember roads being salted about twice a year in the South, now it’s twice a day. At this rate my cars are going to be SORNed until about May. Rant over.

You realise cars aren't made out of slugs, I hope?

Underseal is your friend, and one of those pressure sprayer underbody attachments if really worried.

A 'Care-Sher'

[stogbandard]

It’s coming up to mad March and supposedly a filing cabinet full of unspent fivers is waiting to be lavished on the road network. Surely you’d spend it on repairing potholes but perhaps try to do it with tarmac instead of salt.

I’m pretty sure in Northamptonshire the arms length highways “management” organisation cream it off as a profit. In March the policy of do as little as possible and do it badly remains, with no real uptick in efforts to properly repair potholes towards the end of March. Nope, it’s the usual can’t be arsed approach of picking one hole from a road pockmarked with about 1000 holes and heel a bit of cold tar in it. More misery come in summer when contractors sub contract the “surface dressing” contract to companies who must have shares in Autoglass. Some stretches 12 months on still have loose chippings due to a lack of binder.

[sixor8]

They only usually grit (salt) round here when the forecast is for 0C min or below. Problem now is that all the roads have a white sheen of crushed salt on them when they dry out. On damp mornings, its brine time.

We haven't had any proper rain for 2 weeks here, but it's forecast for Wed / Thu. We need it washed away for me to get a motorcycle or TVR out of hibernation.

[sherman]

There was that much salt on the road the other week it was billowing about. The air was a bit foggy in town from it all.

[Pica-Pica]

Lo-Fi said:

donkmeister said:

Bobtherallyfan said:

Just been told Hampshire are salting the roads yet again tonight…the current forecast in my area is a minimum of 4 degrees for goodness sake. I seem to remember roads being salted about twice a year in the South, now it’s twice a day. At this rate my cars are going to be SORNed until about May. Rant over.

You realise cars aren't made out of slugs, I hope?

Underseal is your friend, and one of those pressure sprayer underbody attachments if really worried.

A 'Care-Sher'

Spot on.

[anonymous-user]

donkmeister said:

Underseal is your friend, and one of those pressure sprayer underbody attachments if really worried.

I bought one of those a couple of weeks ago and for the sake of £35 it's fantastic. Really blows some crap from under the car.

[QJumper]

A fiver will get you a lawn sprayer attachment for a hose, which at close range is quite powerful, and more than adequate to give the underside a rinse.

[BertBert]

WelshRich said:

I’ve heard this mentioned since I was a kid and coincidentally, my daughter relayed the same story only yesterday - Her driving instructor had told her that this was the reason behind the glut of roadworks/temporary lights in town at the moment.

Is it actually true though?

I can see how they might postpone non-critical stuff until the end of the year to keep a contingency in case something urgent crops up but would they really do stuff that doesn’t actually need doing just to protect their budget for following years?

I’m not so naive to believe that this couldn’t happen, but does anyone have inside knowledge that it definitely does?

Of course it doesn't. Superb urban-mythery

[Megaflow]

WelshRich said:

I’ve heard this mentioned since I was a kid and coincidentally, my daughter relayed the same story only yesterday - Her driving instructor had told her that this was the reason behind the glut of roadworks/temporary lights in town at the moment.

Is it actually true though?

I can see how they might postpone non-critical stuff until the end of the year to keep a contingency in case something urgent crops up but would they really do stuff that doesn’t actually need doing just to protect their budget for following years?

I’m not so naive to believe that this couldn’t happen, but does anyone have inside knowledge that it definitely does?

Yes. It definitely does happen. A friend of mine works for a major IT company that sells a lot of IT kit to various councils and government departments.

He gets asked to invoice them for all sorts of stuff during March, not only invoice, they don’t get a toss about delivery. At first he had a real issue with it, but then worked out, they are going to spend it with somebody, so it may as well be him to improve his annual bonus.

[Zarco]

Megaflow said:

WelshRich said:

I’ve heard this mentioned since I was a kid and coincidentally, my daughter relayed the same story only yesterday - Her driving instructor had told her that this was the reason behind the glut of roadworks/temporary lights in town at the moment.

Is it actually true though?

I can see how they might postpone non-critical stuff until the end of the year to keep a contingency in case something urgent crops up but would they really do stuff that doesn’t actually need doing just to protect their budget for following years?

I’m not so naive to believe that this couldn’t happen, but does anyone have inside knowledge that it definitely does?

Yes. It definitely does happen. A friend of mine works for a major IT company that sells a lot of IT kit to various councils and government departments.

He gets asked to invoice them for all sorts of stuff during March, not only invoice, they don’t get a toss about delivery. At first he had a real issue with it, but then worked out, they are going to spend it with somebody, so it may as well be him to improve his annual bonus.

The glut of roadworks is because its half term.

I could quite believe the must spend budget by certain date to keep it for next year story. I have no evidence of course!

My local council seems to resurface the same roads every year or two, so they are always in good condition. The rest crumbles for decades. Always found this odd.