Driving in the Snow.

On the 31st of Nov, I had to drive with the family from Germany to the UK as the wife had a Hospital appointment in Portsmouth. This was the Day the UK had a load of snow and the M20 was at a complete standstill. When we left Germany at 1,30pm it was snowing and it was the same all across europe, not a problem, even got to the Eurotunnel 2hrs a head of time (nice 1). Got out of Ashford at about 7.30pm, and on to the M20, FFS, there was a bit of snow on the ground and it seemed the world had come to an end. So after an Hour I pulled off the Motorway to cut thru Gravesend, that was just as bad, a load of idiots who do not have any idea of driving in snow, in pathetic cars that had no chance of moving, stupit truck drivers trying to take their arctics down untreated crountry roads and then getting stuck, we finaly got to the Mother-in-laws at about 0130am. We were in the wifes new XC90 and it justs loves the snow, as it is all wheel drive it was so frustrating being stuck cos of idiots. And today we made the return jurney. left the MOLs (Newmarket) at 0830, got to Ashford at 1045am (not bad), got thru france OK, Belguim, Fine (apart from Antwerp, (that was the normal mess) as soon as we we got out of Holland, FFS again, the Germans had the normal road works (60KPH for a billion miles) there was more snow on the ground than the UK got 2 weeks ago, NORMALY the Germans are good with the snow, but not tonight, every looney was on the road and it was crawling along, there were crashes, there were standstills for no reasons and the stupid truckers were at it again, overtaking each other for 1/2kph differance. As soon as we were past the worst of it (near Dortmond) nobody was using the outside lane, no idea why? so I just put he car in winter mode and sat in the outside lane doing 70mph past all the cretins doing 50kph. Finaly got home at 8pm to 8 inches of snow.

PS,  I am a qualified HGV (C+E) driver.

Oh Yeah, Ihave the GTI running on snow tyres, so we are gona go out for some fun on the Air field tomorrow.

one word sums that up, nice.

hope you have fun in the snow

chris

do you ever overtake other lorries what you say seems to be hypocritical
you critisis lorry drivers then at the end of your rant you try to justify doing 70 in snow because your a QUALIFIED hgv driver a 2 1/2  ton 4x4 will not stop on ice in an emergency any quicker than anything else unless you hit something. too many people think having a 4x4 is so good yet so many of them end up in ditches on icy roads 4x4's are only any good if driven correctly and safely imo

Struggling to see a point to this thread.

T

agreed

what a lovely carbon footprint
surely would have been better just to go to the hospital in germany and probably better and less of a wait

Why does it make someone an idiot just because they don't have a 4x4 like you do?.. It is not us "idiots" who are to blame.. It is the people in charge of gritting the roads who have known that this weather was coming and should have taken the appropriate action, rather than trying to save money.. We all pay road tax.. Some of that money should be spent on preparing the roads for these conditions..

Are airports and roads closed in Siberia?… No… Because of preparation… Not because of idiots in less capable vehicles than you..

 :dontknow:

I was only having a general rant, it wasnt directed at anyone in perticular. Has nobody else been fedup with something that is out of their control and had no 1 to share it with? And we had to go to Portsmouth, cos that is where the Military Hospital (QA)is.

i could add so much to this but wont I work on the roads for a living as a driver and what anoys me most is not that the roads are not prepared because of the low temperatures there is the little known fact that below a certain temp the grit and salt has no effect at all so sometimes preping the roads will do nothing other than waste more money.

But that aside my biggest problem is that there are people who just cannot drive in the snow yet they look at it get in the car and then go out and that is where the problem comes in, like the with the last lot of snow coming away from a customer see a guy come out look get in his car and in less than half a mile had got stuck in the snow, tried to say he had been driving for over an hour until i pointed out i had seen him come out of his house and get in the car and stuggle to get any where all the time he was in it,

oh and he was i a 4x4 just to top it off and in answer to why was he stuck got slid down the camber of the road into a curb and onto a pavement and had in in 2 wheel not four so could not get any where, these are the one i cant understand anyone else who can drive in a 4x4 or 2 wheel drive why not its the one who dont have a ckue thaty cause the problems.

Nighthawk said

there is the little known fact that below a certain temp the grit and salt has no effect at all so sometimes preping the roads will do nothing other than waste more money.

That temperature being what exactly?…  :dontknow:

My understanding is that adding salt to water, lowers its freezing point and also raises its boiling point by several degree's.. If you put grit salt down prior to it snowing, the snow will melt on contact creating salty water, any snow falling on this salty water also melts and providing there is enough salt, it will not settle and cause any problems whatsoever.. The problem with gritting after it has snowed, is that the grit salt will indeed just lay on top of the cold snow and due to temperatures being well below freezing will not melt as said in the little known fact above… However, we are in England and for temperatures to get to that point, the temperature has to drop, snow has to fall and temperatures fall even further.. Gritting prior to the snow falling prevents the problem.. Gritting afterwards wastes money… Its all in the preparation..

That counts for everything, Walt, Prior preperation and planning prevents PXXX poor performance. We use the 7Ps at work, but its the same old thing, No plan survives first contact. best made plans and all that. Last  I heard on the Telly it is the wrong kind of snow! :dontknow:

Stuart Pile, executive member for highways and transport at Herts County Council said: "While salt is the best material we have available to treat snow and ice, it isn't a magic powder that always makes roads completely safe. The way salt works is that it turns ice into salt water, which has a lower freezing point, and the melted water then drains away. However, once temperatures drop to minus six or below - as is possible in the next couple of days - the salt water itself freezes."

copied from an article from earlier this year when it snowed

CTRL ALT DELETE..

I believe its only -6 degrees until its effectiveness deteriorates

But dont quote me on that :-)

We've just come back from a trip to Europe visiting the in-laws in Southern Holland.

Trip down from Hull-Rotterdam ferry last week was fine, they'd already had a little snow and overnight Sat and then Sunday afternoon it snowed again approx 2 inch. Very pretty but still hazardous.


Helps that Holland is flat so no skidding trying to get up hills or having to stop and being unable to restart whilst waiting for someone else to get out of the way.

What stuck me was that these super efficient Europeans still had to shut Schiphol (largest airport in Europe?), and in the 70+ miles back to Europort from Southern Holland I did not see any gritting, not one. Motorways like this most of the way.


Yes traffic was zooming past in the fast lane, not all of it 4x4 either. It's all very good until you have to stop suddenly and even your super hitech magic winter button 4x4 will pirouette  off across all 3 lanes. Then everyone is stuck whilst they surgically remove the lamppost from your compensating vehicle.
 
No snow in blightly (Hull) but -8c and some traffic light was on the blink so sat in the docks for an hour before we get to the best road in Hull. (the one that leaves it)
The windscreen washers packed up even though there is about 99% concentrate in them, which was fun on the M62.

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Last week I had to work in the conditions sorting people out after accidents caursed by them driving too fast too close and braking too late. But the one thing that got me was when I was going to work, bag of grit and shovel in boot making progress up an hill 4x4 overtakes me fine get on with it  but as I approached a junction 4x4 appears and pulls out caursing me to slow on the ice and lose grip and spend the next 20 minutes digging and gritting to get moving again thanks 4x4 driver.

Having HGV. PSV on your licence doesn't make you a good driver. I'm an advance driver and motorcyclist, I wouldn't drive at 70MPH in snow and ice that just asking for it, even with the traction control and all the other toys fitted to new vehicles.

as i have said before it is not the weather conditions it is simply those who cannot drive in them that cause the problems

i might seem big headed on this and you can call me all you like as I drive a white van for a living but i take my tme ake sure the van can handle it and i come home every night my biggest problem each day is those who cannot drive or drive to fast as mentioned before.

Actually salt doesnt reduce the freezing point of Water because thats immpossible it stops the ice forming crystals which amounts to the same thing, -6 does sound about right, and grit is effective at all tempratures because it adds friction

But apart from that 4x4 drivers should be shot.

2010 USA Cars sliding and crashing down icy hill in the snow! - YouTube

4x4 at its best