With further snow and icy conditions forecast over the next few days, Birmingham City Council is urging motorists to take extra care on the city roads.
Gritting teams are again on standby to treat a network of 1,200km of roads across Birmingham – during last weekend’s snow the roads were gritted four times in just over 24 hours.
After a mild first half of the winter, Birmingham’s roads have been gritted 16 times in the last two weeks.
And, with the Met Office forecasting more snow for Friday, motorists are being urged to play their part in efforts to keep the city moving.
Director, Highways & Resilience, John Blakemore, said: “With the Met Office predicting more snow and ice, our gritting crews are on standby. At the same time, we’re asking motorists to take the weather conditions into account when making journeys.
“Our advice is to be prepared and, in extreme weather, only make journeys that are absolutely necessary. Never assume it’s safe to travel at normal speeds even if the roads have been gritted. Journeys in the snow will inevitably take longer but safety and not speed should be your priority.”
Winter driving
- Your journey will almost certainly take longer than during the summer months, so allow extra time for it.
- Dark and poor weather conditions make driving more hazardous – slow down.
- Remember it will take considerably longer to stop in icy conditions so allow plenty of room to slow down and stop.
- Manoeuvre gently using a high gear avoiding harsh braking and acceleration.
- Keep your windscreen and all other windows clean and free from ice and snow.
- Keep de-icer in you car. Also keep some in your house for when it is so frosty you can’t get in to your car.
- Keep headlights clean and in working order.
- Use dipped headlights in poor weather and dull conditions. Never use foglights unless visibility is seriously reduced.
- Take care – pedestrians and cyclists may not be as visible as they think they are.
- Check www.birminghamnewsroom.com and monitor the #wmgrit hashtag on Twitter for gritting news and alerts for Birmingham and the wider West Midlands region.
- Listen to local radio stations to check road conditions before venturing out and take heed of the advice given.
- Check the weather forecast.
- Remember – it is always better to arrive late for work than to not arrive at all…
When Do We Grit?
Amey Birmingham Ltd undertakes the Winter Maintenance service under the Highway Maintenance and Management PFI partnership for Birmingham.
Duty officers monitor both road and weather conditions around the clock during the winter period, analysing all information available which enable them to make an informed decision on when to grit the roads.
The information available to the duty officer includes a special forecast directly from a forecasting service provider, which is specific to forecast road temperatures and conditions within the West Midlands. This includes direct contact with an experienced forecaster who can give up to the minute advice on condition forecasts. In addition, to enable the duty officers to keep a constant watch on road conditions the council operates ten weather stations around the city and shares the information from a further 20 stations owned by our neighbouring Councils. The information from these stations is collected via a specialised web site.
When the information available to the duty officer indicates that wintry conditions will affect our roads, the gritting fleet is called into action.
In Times of Snow
When a snow fall is expected greater quantities of rock salt is spread on the roads beforehand to slow the rate of the snow settling. Then, if the snow begins to settle, further salt is spread to mix in with the snow to aid its melting. Unfortunately, salt alone has a limited effect on snow and it is only the actions of re-salting and the crushing of the salt by vehicle movement that will disperse and melt the snow. We cannot plough the snow until a depth of around 40mm (1.5 inches) is reached.
For more information contact Geoff Coleman on 0121 303 3501
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