Black ice

The Weegie · Post by **The Weegie** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:07 pm

Went outside yesterday with the rubbish bin. Slips on black ice goes right up in the air and lands on both of my elbows.

The pain in particular my right elbow was sore as fu..

No sign of gritters. There are huge yellow boxes at the top of our street which are supposed to be full of grit. Looked in it yesterday and it was empty.

Goes out at 2pm to get the kid from school. On the way home my kid slips twice and falls badly. Thankfully no injuries.

The councils response. "We were caught out by the torrential rain and then the freezing temperatures.

What a lot of shi.. How can you be caught out you didn't even make an attempt to grit the roads. No postman yesterday and still no refuse collection.

I think the local paper front headline says it all.

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:10 pm

the council........run by idiots

Raf · Post by **Raf** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:52 pm

no gritter here either; more snow tonight so im hoping they at least grit the main roads!

EJJ150847 · Post by **EJJ150847** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:25 pm

We're on a bus route so thankfully it normally gets gritted.

Once when I was taking wifey to work after '3mm' of snow , I got stuck behind a female in a BMW who was trying to do a hill start, spinning rear wheels like mad.

I got out to ask the problem She said " My handbrake is stuck on it won't move"

After discussing with her her useless driving technique and pointing out, seeing as she had a Automatic to just put it in position 2 and 'slowly accelerate, oh no it was foot to the floor every time.
I asked her if she would mind me trying, I managed to move it 20 ft no spinning, she got in and span the wheels making black smoke I gave up and pulled around her.

When I came back down the hill she was still there with a few other chaps giving her advice. One was quite vociferous and said what most of us wanted to say, "You're F###ing stupid and dangerous" and got back in his car.

John

Geewizz · Post by **Geewizz** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 3:57 pm

I need to rant at the people who can't take responsibility for themselves and blame the council when they fall on ice.

Here's the thing. The temperature drops and water turns to ice. It's a fairly basic concept. So when it is cold, take care where you walk and how you walk. Put on appropriate footwear.

I live in a rural area. If we waited for the council to come out and spread grit in our path them we would be housebound for months on end. I went up towards Glasgow this afternoon and the temperature difference in 20 miles was 8.5C. When I came back the temperature here had risen to -6 which is half a degree above what it was when I left acouple of hours before. I parked outside my house in 4 inches of snow. We will not see a gritter up this way all winter. I have bags of cheap salt in my porch which I use on the steps outside my house if there has been a hard frost.

The thing is, if you live in the south of Glasgow you'll have gritters on the roads, gritters on the pavements and hospitals within 10 minutes of wherever you are AND you'll be paying the same council tax rates as those of us in the hills 30 miles to the South.

So please don't phone the council every time you slip and fall on ice. You're already getting the bulk of the winter services up there so just take some responsibility for yourself for a change.

Phew! I'm glad I got that off my chest.

thescruff · Post by **thescruff** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 4:09 pm

Geewizz, Geewizz, and give up the chance of all that free money

I say get out there and break a leg, you know you want too.

Raf · Post by **Raf** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 4:53 pm

ahhhhhhh MY LEG!!!!

The Weegie · Post by **The Weegie** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 6:04 pm

Geewizz wrote:I need to rant at the people who can't take responsibility for themselves and blame the council when they fall on ice.

Here's the thing. The temperature drops and water turns to ice. It's a fairly basic concept. So when it is cold, take care where you walk and how you walk. Put on appropriate footwear.

I live in a rural area. If we waited for the council to come out and spread grit in our path them we would be housebound for months on end. I went up towards Glasgow this afternoon and the temperature difference in 20 miles was 8.5C. When I came back the temperature here had risen to -6 which is half a degree above what it was when I left acouple of hours before. I parked outside my house in 4 inches of snow. We will not see a gritter up this way all winter. I have bags of cheap salt in my porch which I use on the steps outside my house if there has been a hard frost.

The thing is, if you live in the south of Glasgow you'll have gritters on the roads, gritters on the pavements and hospitals within 10 minutes of wherever you are AND you'll be paying the same council tax rates as those of us in the hills 30 miles to the South.

So please don't phone the council every time you slip and fall on ice. You're already getting the bulk of the winter services up there so just take some responsibility for yourself for a change.

Phew! I'm glad I got that off my chest.

You choose to live in a rural area where you don't expect gritters and teams of men making sure roads are safe. If you don't like it MOVE.

I choose to live in the south side of Glasgow on a hill where I do expect gritters. This is why I pay council tax. No sign of gritters being out even on major roads. Did you not read the Evening times??

With regards to footwear. I was wearing 3 season hill walking boots with Vibram soles. Still no good. Apart from putting on ice crampons I don't know what would of helped.

Surely you are not blaming a five year old girl for falling on black ice on a major road in the south side of Glasgow

My girl was taking her time and was terrified of falling. Every slip she made she was screaming with fear. I also had a 3 year old with me. No babysitters unfortunately.

It is a lot easier walking on snow where you live than walking on Black ice where I live.

And I had four bags of salt which I used on my driveway but still slipped on the pavement which belongs to the COUNCIL

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 6:14 pm

i presume if you salt the pavement outside your house, someone could take you to court for doing so

Geewizz · Post by **Geewizz** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 6:29 pm

The Weegie wrote: You choose to live in a rural area where you don't expect gritters and teams of men making sure roads are safe. If you don't like it MOVE.

It wasn't me who was complaining, it was you who phoned the council to complain.

Yes, the council are responsible for the pavements but that doesn't absolve you of responsibility for yourself and your children. The council cannot afford to cater for every eventuality. Rainfall followed immediately by freezing temperatures means there is no time for the entire fleet of gritters to grit every road and pavement in the region. If you believe that the council should employ enough operatives and lorries to grit the entire region in a couple of hours then you must understand that your council tax is liable to rise by a few hundred (if not thousands) of pounds.

The sensible thing to do is to be cautious in bad conditions and to avoid being out in them if you can't cope with them. Gritting is a relatively modern innovation. I wonder who you would have blamed in the days before pavements were gritted by the council?

handyman · Post by **handyman** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 6:34 pm

street lighting used to be a candle, then gas, then leccy............Oh how things move on.............

I pay for my shite to go down a pipe and be treated, and dont expect my shite to suddenly sit on the pavement when theres a rush of shite to process

Geewizz · Post by **Geewizz** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 6:41 pm

Granted.

But how would you suggest the council deal with the situation when heavy rain washes off all the salt and then the temperature drops below freezing point?

Is there something different they could have done that would have ensured that all pavements were free of ice at all times?

The Weegie · Post by **The Weegie** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:08 pm

Geewizz wrote:Granted.

But how would you suggest the council deal with the situation when heavy rain washes off all the salt and then the temperature drops below freezing point?

Is there something different they could have done that would have ensured that all pavements were free of ice at all times?

Yes. They could of came back out and put more grit down. I didn't see one gritter lorry in the south side of glasgow yesterday and I was up from 5.30am. The council goes own about how they have state of the art machines that tell them what the weather is going to be like. Clearly they weren't working or it would of told them that rain was on the way. Why would you grit roads before rain fall

Granted they can't grit every pavement and road. However if you stay on a hill where there is only one way in and out, Where there is yellow boxes meant to be full of grit which are empty. The council have a responsibiltiy to ensure that these roads or yellow boxes are maintained.

The Weegie · Post by **The Weegie** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:15 pm

The sensible thing to do is to be cautious in bad conditions and to avoid being out in them if you can't cope with them.

Yeh. lets not take your kids to school or pick them up. Go shopping for food etc. etc.

thescruff · Post by **thescruff** » Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:19 pm

I think the Councils first responsibility is to get/keep the main roads open, after that they systematically attack the side road and urban areas.

It would be impossible to grit ever road/pavement before someone tried them out, unless they have a curfew saying this road is closed till the gritters have been along it.