They have a disgusting habit of splashing dirty filthy grit at top speed in to the side of my car. Makes me mad! I've resorted to pulling over when I see one approaching to try to get away from the cr@p.

Not expecting you to know the answers to all my questions but what is it that they mix in with the salt to make it quite so filthy?

In Cambridgeshire we mostly use brine to pre-wet the salt. In my depot we just use traditional rock salt. We used to use 10mm salt but have recently gone down to a 6mm salt as this is less damaging to vehicles etc.

Some authorities use salt coated in molasses, which is pretty sticky, and also makes it quite tasty to wildlife . As a plus it is hugely less corrosive to our vehicles so there is some efficiency saving there in terms of time spent washing down vehicles, longevity of the bodies etc.

I think Herefordshire must be one of the counties that uses molasses

I got blasted by a gritter lorry on the bike about 6 weeks ago. Hoped that he would turn the gritter off for a few seconds as I passed but no joy.. it was like the world was ending for about 3 seconds. Not nice.

I can understand that if he did turn the grit off for a couple of seconds and then some idiot went on to have an accident on that 20 metre stretch where no grit was applied, it would end up being the drivers' fault.

Them slowing down a bit would be appreciated though

But then, if they slowed for every car out there...they'd never get their round finished !

Just shiny red skodas would suffice.

You can't do more than 30mph when you are spreading as its restricted.

People forget we are out there to apply salt to the carriageway to prevent the formation of ice. Turning the spreader down because a car comes the other way simply isn't an option

Modern spreaders are getting better though. Spinners are a lot lower now and thow salt under cars rather than at them. The molasses lark is a good one too, not a lot of putting salt down for it to all blow away

The thing that irritates me is that we go far too often, yet because of the blame/claim culture we live in, management haven't got the balls to say that there is enough residual salt on the road so we aren't going to go again tonight...

And to add, some people are plain stupid. We are in big yellow wagons with flashing beacons. If I know I'm approaching a dog walker or a cyclist etc I'll pip the horn too. If you get a face full of salt I'm afraid I did everything reasonably possible to prevent it.

Unavoidable I'm afraid. Do remember that these guys save lots of lives by putting the salt down in the first place.

It was only half serious

So can someone explain why I see so many gritters with all the flashing lights and beacons on, travelling at 30mph with no grit coming out the back. Is it for the feel good factor so that Joe Public think that the roads are been gritted but saving the council money in Salt? Or is the driver too dosey to not notice that nothing is coming out? Or is the driver just driving back to base with all his lights on to deliberatly slow all cars down in the 2 miles behind him causing virtual gridlock until people realise that nothing is coming out?

Steve

Best practise says we only have the beacons on when we are spreading. So if the beacons are flashing and no salt is coming out, chances are the driver doesn't realise he has a fault/blockage.

They have a disgusting habit of splashing dirty filthy grit at top speed in to the side of my car. Makes me mad! I've resorted to pulling over when I see one approaching to try to get away from the cr@p.

Not expecting you to know the answers to all my questions but what is it that they mix in with the salt to make it quite so filthy?

Doesn't this come in to the lesser of two evil's camp?

You can either have your car get a little dirty, or plant it firmly in the hedge on the opposite side of that T junction.

Mind judging by the number of reports of black ice, i have to say:

"Tom! You've missed a bit!"

around this neck of the woods, i've seen the lorry stop at busy junctions and cross-roads etc to allow more grit to settle on the bit you are most likely to skid on

The spreader is calibrated and adjusts with the speed of the gritter. As you slow up to a standstill it seems to over compensate by dumping down a shed load of salt :thumbdwn:

black ice,

Or as the PC lot say - "ice which is invisible to the eye ":rofl:

Never mind the gent's politics -he seems to get the blame for a lot at this time of year .

I crashed on black ice = I was driving to fast for the conditions and lost control.

HTH.

I worry about the salt corroding my car so over the this period so I use the bus/bike/shank's pony. I see small cars caked in salt which cannot be doing them any good. I would almost say that it would be better not to treat any roads apart from motorways and A roads then drivers will travel much more carefully everywhere. Getting onto an ungritted road when you think it is gritted is a real danger (I had a near go).

As an aside, why are UK motorists still driving around on Summer tyres?

Mr Tailhappy, I regularly pressure wash (gently...) my car in the winter months so the salt is only ever on my car for a day or two maximum

I think most of us run around on summer tyres because we don't get enough ice and cold conditions to warrant buying winter tyres. I'm on proper summer tyres (Goodyear Eagle F1s) and aside from one misjudgement of the conditions a few weeks ago they've coped fine in the ice.

I crashed on black ice = I was driving to fast for the conditions and lost control.

Of course, it could have been a diesel spill :P

Chris

i saw one on sunday night and realised no matter what i was going to do i wasnt going to escape it and found when it went by it was a fine salt being put down not so hard on the car, yet a week before it was if they were chucking out bricks.. last night i came across one on my way home and it didnt have its beacons going but going up the long road towards home i found that he had turned the gritter on for every corner and back off again around every corner (theres 2 accident blackspots along this road). so fair play to him.

Have to say it's a bit more tricky to put any power down (not booting it at all) on the summer tyres (falken 452). Didn't have any problems last year but this year is a good few degrees colder. Kind of wishing I'd gone for the winter/all season tyres in some ways now.

Certainly plenty of cars off and unable to stop in time on the roads today.

Certainly plenty of cars off and unable to stop in time on the roads today.

The cars unable to stop? Or the drivers? Can't say I've noticed a great deal of problems running on summer tyres (Eagle F1's) in this weather tbh

Chris

i found that he had turned the gritter on for every corner and back off again around every corner (theres 2 accident blackspots along this road). so fair play to him.

We do give an extra dose at known trouble spots, but if he's spreading you should put your beacons on again to let people know... We have a "spot grit" button which doubles the dose, or as you say we can do extra little bits as we double back on ourselves etc.

Also we are instructed to grit every roundabout all the way round, so some roundabouts get done several times.

Of course, it could have been a diesel spill :P

Just LOL!! :P