Comment

OVER the last few years it seems that British winters are notable for their excessive rainfall and mild temperatures rather than freezing conditions and heavy snow.

Whether this is due to catastrophic climate change or simply a benign periodic and natural phenomenon, is open to debate, but what is certain is that it is rare for there to be long periods where the temperature plummets below freezing. Such a development should therefore simplify the role of the local authority highways department. There are fewer days when the gritting lorries need to be out, resulting in a saving of raw material, vehicle maintenance fuel and labour costs.

It should also give those in charge of gritting a better opportunity to improve the service and make sure that it operates to the maximum efficiency. Should' being the operative word. What we have got is a consistent and repeated failure in circumstances which leave most motorists shaking their heads. Last week on the moor road was a case in point. According to the BBC weather forecast, heavy rain of the previous few days would be followed by a clear night with a sharp frost in the morning. The perfect recipe for icy roads and a signal, one would have thought, that the gritting lorries needed to be out early in the morning, before the rush hour.

In reality, the situation on Hangingstone Road - one of the major high rural routes in the district - was absolutely treacherous with invisible black ice all over the road. There was no evidence whatsoever of any grit on the road.

At around 7am three cars collided after skidding on the ice and a driver had to be taken to hospital. Police closed off the road resulting in traffic chaos on the A65 with workers struggling to get to their factories and offices on time.

In the midst of the chaos around 8.45, a gritter made its way up to the Cow and Calf, making the road safe, which didn't really matter because it was then closed to traffic. A phrase involving the words stable door' and horse' immediately sprang to mind. It simply isn't good enough.

2:56pm Thursday 17th January 2008

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