Gritting roads tonight, WTF?

deandean

I was driving home through Baldoyle tonight about 00:30 and i got peppered by a gritting truck!

It's 5 to 6 degrees outside for cripes sake. there is absolutely no chance of icy roads in Baldoyle tonight. Waste of money.

What's this about? The rumour i have from someone on high is that DCC & Fingal bought so much grit during the last couple of cold winters that they have to get rid of it whether it's needed or not.

Cee-Jay-Cee

5 or 6 degrees air temperature but the ground temperature can be lower and so there is a chance of frost if the ground is wet...maybe?

dgt

A bit colder out here in Meath.... Saw one gritter myself

ba_barabus

It was freezing on the m7 tonight and lots of fog.

Toyotafanboi

CJC999 wrote: »

5 or 6 degrees air temperature but the ground temperature can be lower and so there is a chance of frost if the ground is wet...maybe?

that and the fact that i'm sure DCC would rather be over cautious and grit when it may not be needed than face a serious rap on the knuckles for not gritting if temperatures dropped an extra degree or two tonight and it did actually freeze.

spank_inferno

What good is throwing dirt on roads when all it does is block drains?

vermin99

deandean wrote: »

I was driving home through Baldoyle tonight about 00:30 and i got peppered by a gritting truck!

It's 5 to 6 degrees outside for cripes sake. there is absolutely no chance of icy roads in Baldoyle tonight. Waste of money.

What's this about? The rumour i have from someone on high is that DCC & Fingal bought so much grit during the last couple of cold winters that they have to get rid of it whether it's needed or not.

I've a uncle whos a overseer in the council and I've asked him before about this and he said that its on the side
fof caution because if someone happened to crash due to a icy road and was killed.There would be a inquiry and charges may be brought against the council for nothing having the roads done .so its just on the side of caution

Toyotafanboi

spank_inferno wrote: »

What good is throwing dirt on roads when all it does is block drains?

it thaws ground frost to help prevent you losing control on 1500kgs of metal @100km/h on a busy road?

irishgeo

spank_inferno wrote: »

What good is throwing dirt on roads when all it does is block drains?

It saves lives.

Once the temperature goes below a certain range, the gritters have to go out.

Also a lot of the toll motorways are looked after by the company running the motorway and its not technically tax payers money being wasted.

bazz26

Grit the roads and they complain, don't grit the roads and they complain about that too. There is just no pleasing some people.

spank_inferno

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

it thaws ground frost to help prevent you losing control on 1500kgs of metal @100km/h on a busy road?

Terrific..... When there is ice.

Which there is not now.

Tomorrow will be the usual mild & quite wet.
The dirt will wash away, or gather into mud.... And it will be a wasted effort.

Though more work for the guys who unblock drains.

deandean

The NRA have telemetry to monitor road temperatures nationwide in real time. the link used to be:
http://www.nra.ie/RoadWeatherInformation/
But the link seems dead now. Shame. That would be useful.

testicle

It is below freezing in parts - https://www.nratraffic.ie/weather/

Basq

Definitely freezing temps in Sligo tonight too I'd say.

Toyotafanboi

spank_inferno wrote: »

Terrific..... When there is ice.

Which there is not now.

Tomorrow will be the usual mild & quite wet.
The dirt will wash away, or gather into mud.... And it will be a wasted effort.

Though more work for the guys who unblock drains.

didn't know you were a weatherman. the NRA seem to have a handle on the temperature and according to them (link below) some roads are already at freezing point tonight.

also, we live in ireland. it rains pretty much all the time and we have gritted the roads for a long time. why did you save this rant for tonight? you're really clutching at straws. physics and the irish climate pretty much guarentee it will be wet directly after the spreading of grit.

testicle wrote: »

It is below freezing in parts - https://www.nratraffic.ie/weather/

NIMAN

bazz26 wrote: »

Grit the roads and they complain, don't grit the roads and they complain about that too. There is just no pleasing some people.

Thats a topic for the LiveLine on Monday so.

AlanS181824

Well right now in Carlow (Not there at the minute but,) according to Google Now it's 0°C. And I was talking to my Mam who said it's really foggy out.

antodeco

Ice on the all cars outside now. Looks like the council got it spot on!

AlanS181824

On Google Now it says it's -1°C now
Ice on the cars already?

JohnBoy26

You would think they would have come up with an alternative to salt by now.

Not arguing the safety benefits of the stuff but it does some damage to cars.

irishgeo

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

You would think they would have come up with an alternative to salt by now.

Not arguing the safety benefits of the stuff but it does some damage to cars.

They actually have, I read it somewhere that some council in England was using a sugar based alternative.

antodeco

First you get the sugar. Then you get the power. Then you get the women!

pete4130

OP would probably be first to complain with no gritting done, ice on the roads in the morning and sliding into a kerb doing damage to rims.

Bigus

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

You would think they would have come up with an alternative to salt by now.

Not arguing the safety benefits of the stuff but it does some damage to cars.

But salt doesn't block drains, it dissolves away.

visual

Bigus wrote: »

But salt doesn't block drains, it dissolves away.

They don't use pure salt

pete4130

Best to move this to the "blocked drains" forum.