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...when I got out in my car yesterday without any problems, and the main difference it makes to me is I can't ski from my front door any more.
I did go out and help a bit, because I like my neighbours and it felt good to chip in (and some people will appreciate having a clear road), but it wasn't something I'd have bothered doing.
Yes, because you selfishly compacted the snow with your car yesterday. Unless it had been gritted when you're a hero 🙂
Compacted snow is fine to drive on - it's only when people put their foot down and spin the wheels that it melts (and then refreezes) that it becomes a problem. Which is of course what people do on the hill just around the corner!
Sorry, I meant that now it had been compacted it'd be harder to shift. A feeble attempt at humour on my part.
Sorry, I meant that now it had been compacted it'd be harder to shift. A feeble attempt at humour on my part.
No need to apologize twice . . . .
No. I live at the bottom of a hill and yesterday the road was littered with cars spinning their wheels (mostly BMWs and Mercs LOL). I went to the bakers and came back and there was even more, now with a bigger queue of traffic.
I thought about getting a shovel and helping but then realised it was only pedestrians helping the cars, none of the other car drivers had got out to help.
Some of the cars were still there this morning.
Muppets.
we live in a road parallel to one of the top 100 climbs.
It's not gritted. North facing. We live at the top. It's 500m of about 7%. Primary school at the bottom.
You learn to clear and grit the road yourself as quickly as possible, otherwise it doesn't get done, and you don't get out for weeks.
At one point there was a whole 5 of us working on it. The other c70 adults down the road decided to stay in the warm. Bless them.
As a result though, the road was fine. Just a bit chaotic when you go elsewhere.
I am the self-designated snow-clearer on our street and think you're a ****.
You driving over the snow compacts it, which is fine for an hour or two, but it will turn it to ice which is then a problem for everyone.
My resentment probably stems from the fact that of the 20 houses on our street only 3 of us do any gritting or snow shovelling, the remaining folk are happy to drive up and down turning the road into a skating rink until one of the three of us gets chance to clear it all. 🙄
Oh, and my wife's American - the policy over there is "if it's outside your house, you clear it unless you're old/feeble/sick". Which would do well over here.
I was out clearing my (shared) drive last night, when my neighbour pops out and says "i'd give you a hand, but i've got to go to the gym".. Which is fair enough (he's a nice chap actually) but surely, if you wanted a workouk, helping me to move about 13 tonnes of snow would have been perfect no?? 😆
[quote=munrobiker ]
Oh, and my wife's American - the policy over there is "if it's outside your house, you clear it unless you're old/feeble/sick". Which would do well over here.
Pretty much the way it works wherever I've lived. In my previous house it was quite the social gathering*, hot drinks and toddys being exchanged.
* I can see why many on this forum would have a problem.
Worth noting that for most of the midlands, tonight is going to be the issue, because it's forecast to be -5.
Uncleared roads will be still wet from melting snow, the grit and salt will have washed away, and that water will freeze into a skating rink. And 4 x 0 = 0 so don't feel smug in your silly cross over fauxbyfour either!
I've cleared my drive and the road as well, which when i left this morning was drying nicely, so ought to be fine at 7.00am tomorrow morning.....
[quote=munrobiker ]You driving over the snow compacts it, which is fine for an hour or two, but it will turn it to ice which is then a problem for everyone.
er, no. It was compacted snow last night after I drove over it, it was still compacted snow this morning 15 or so hours later, no sign of ice. As I pointed out before, driving over snow doesn't turn it into ice.
About 10 houses on our bit of road, and I did go out and help the other 3 chaps out clearing a bit (for social reasons as mentioned above - they're all people I get on well with), but don't think it actually needed doing, so your resentment is misplaced.
It snowed like **** at the mother in laws on boxing day three years ago. I was out at 7am (even after a few late beers the night before) shovelling like ****ery. Spent a good 90 mins with the brother in law helping for the last 30 when he also realised the gravity of the situation.
Our street has been covered in ice for the last couple of days. It's only a slight hill but both the entrance and exits are steep. For the last few years we have had issues with new people on the street parking inconsiderately mainly on these narrow and steep entrance and exit. Much to my delight a serious of accidents from cars and vans unable to stop on the ice have crashed into the cars of the main culprits of the inconsiderate parking. Ironically we have a council supplied grit bins and no one near these embankments has used it. We have gritted the roads outside our homes and the elderly neighbours paths.
Here's the Governments advice....
You can clear snow and ice from pavements yourself. It’s [b]unlikely[/b] that you’ll be sued or held responsible if someone is injured on a path or pavement [b]if [/b]you’ve cleared it carefully.
https://www.gov.uk/clear-snow-road-path-cycleway
So, make sure you do a decent job of it, eh?
Yeah, I think you should've cleared it. Compacted snow is fine at first, then it melts and refreezes and you have a much worse ice problem. This happens on our south facing hill every time. The bits I didn't clear I then had to chip off with a shovel, which takes far longer than shovelling fresh snow.
We're one of a group of three houses at the bottom of a 25% lane. We are the only ones that work as the occupants of the other two houses are retired. If it snows overnight and we've not left the car at the top of the lane then I'm usually the one clearing the lane (it's an adopted road but the council have better things to do than head out to us) but one of the others will sometimes help.
With that done it usually stays clear as it faces south so the sun, if it's shining, deals with the remainder. The problem then is the top of the lane where it flattens out as the sun is too low to cause the snow/ice to melt.
If I lived on a street where those able to help clear snow didn't help out I'd be printing out some "invoices" for the work done 😉
[quote=molgrips ]The bits I didn't clear I then had to chip off with a shovel, which takes far longer than shovelling fresh snow.
+1
Snow clearing is ad hoc in our street
If someone gets stuck the people who live nearest have to go out and push
If that fails Tony who lives up the road has a shovel AND a hi-vis waistcoat
As I pointed out before, driving over snow doesn't turn it into ice.
That's interesting, because on our street it does once it's melted a bit and refrozen, as it will today and tonight.
But well done for pitching in! Your neighbours will appreciate it.
Pretty much the way it works wherever I've lived. In my previous house it was quite the social gathering*, hot drinks and toddys being exchanged.
Must be a Scottish thing- nowhere I've lived in England has anyone cleared the road or pavement around their house, except to dig out their own car.
Your neighbours will appreciate it.
Most don't give a crap, I've discovered.
molgrips - I meant the neighbours who were also shovelling. Anyone else can GTF.
I don't understand all this need to clear the snow from hilly streets; here in Lancashire we have grit bins on our hills, which Lancashire County Council fills with rock salt. Residents go out and sprinkle a little and passing cars spread it around. What's hard about that?
Was out yesterday leafleting houses in hilly areas with Ibizas and Polos parked outside in an attempt to sell Mrs Gti's winter Ibiza tyres and was pleased to find that even with wide tyres my diesel Passat was good in snow if I just allowed it to bumble along on tickover, which is walking pace. As soon as I gave it throttle the wheels span and it began to slide.
brakes - MemberI thought about getting a shovel and helping but then realised it was only pedestrians helping the cars, none of the other car drivers had got out to help.
Some of the cars were still there this morning.
Muppets.
Confirms what I was musing in that other thread...
Combine that with a detached impersonal society where we treat all other road users as our enemies so there's no sense of collective effort to help each other. The net result being light snow causes complete gridlock making commuting a pointless en devour for many.
We have a helpful retiree who shovels all the snow off the 30-40 yards of footpath near his house, that hardly ever gets used. Not a bad thing to do maybe, but he seems to delight in waiting until someone else has cleared the road. Rather than shovelling the snow onto the grass, he just tips it all back into the cleared road...
No, you're right and they're wrong.
It's snow FFS, we get to see it once a year at most, leave it alone, relax, stay at home for a few days, maybe go and have a walk.
Should I feel smug for clearing the footpaths outside my kids school.
Up there at 7 this morn doing my best to make the paths safe ... on a semi-rural road, the paths are very tight against the road.... it's not very nice at the best of times.
Got the path cleared from the church car park all the way down to the school.... helped the Caretaker clear some paths around the school and then got the path in the other direction cleared past the Alms houses.
Reckon that's worth a Head Teachers Award.
(and of course it doesn't hurt with "The School Mums" either)
I don't understand all this need to clear the snow from hilly streets; here in Lancashire we have grit bins on our hills, which Lancashire County Council fills with rock salt. Residents go out and sprinkle a little and passing cars spread it around. What's hard about that?
Yip. I was chatting with the neighbours as we all went outside and did this on Saturday afternoon when the snow started to really come down. We don't even think about it. We just do it by default. Comes with living on a 25% gradient I suppose.
Then once we'd all done that, we all then drove down the now gritted road and parked our cars down at the bottom of the hill (so they don't get stranded), nipped for a couple of pints together, then strolled back up. I bloody love living with a load of nice, sociable piss-heads for neighbours 😀
Can I come over and stay please?
Should I feel smug for clearing the footpaths outside my kids school.
no. you're spoiling the fun for the kids.
We had 5 out of the 8 houses on our close (it's about a 10% hill) out at half 9 this morning clearing the snow.Those who did'nt pitch in were away,unable to dig or at work.All done and gritted by half 12 (with a few tea and biscuit stops).
As I pointed out before, driving over snow doesn't turn it into ice
It's weird then as the only bits of really hard ice were the wheel tracks (including tread pattern) of where the only person with a 4x4 had driven in last night and out this morning.
Should I feel smug for clearing the footpaths outside my kids school.
no. you're spoiling the fun for the kids.
This. Kids love snow, stop spoiling it for them.
I got out yesterday and cleared my parents drive (I was at my parents already) and cleared the pavement, not the road as it was being passed easily enough and the traffic was heavy enough to be clearing it. I was the only one in the street that did it. oh well, a short stretch of pavement was passable, so the kids off to the playground and football pitches weren't falling over outside my parent's house.
Is it because rock salt only works down to around -4c and then needs to be agitated (preferably by motor wheels) into the compacted snow/ice to take effect?I don't understand all this need to clear the snow from hilly streets; here in Lancashire we have grit bins on our hills, which Lancashire County Council fills with rock salt. Residents go out and sprinkle a little and passing cars spread it around. What's hard about that?
I live on a flat street with no verge, so no shovelling on our road. The only shovelling I've delighted in doing is building a wall across someone's driveway. This may sound cruel, but we had watched him needlessly clear all his drive to get his car out when doing the wheel tracks would have been more than sufficient. Thing is, he built walls across the (already cleared) footpath either side of his drive. After witnessing a couple of old dears having to struggle around and into the road we decided some guerrilla action was needed. So a two foot solid wall was built across his driveway. Unfortunately we weren't around on his return.
Just outside our house is a sharp steep turn onto the drive (shared by several neighbours) so I sometimes sprinkle a bit of ash on it. Not so far this year though, been close to the line but not quite over it.
😆 @Ro5ey - I for one, am loving your altruism dude! :D. I view it as a spectrum too 😉
Liking your style 😀 😉
No, cycle past on your winter spiked tyres. 😈
There are a few folk on the street who make a bit of an effort, me included. Sadly there are plenty who don't, yet the grit bin is often emptied mysteriously and people's front steps and drive covered in grit, yet the road to them still covered in snow...nobody will be surprised to learn this is Surrey.
Of our 6 flats, my immediate neighbour is a star, always getting on with it, but most others don't bother and I've occasionally had to clear our whole shared drive (moderate 20 yard slope) on my own whilst the others watched from their windows. Funny how I then only did mine and said immediate neighbours car spaces, eh? I bought the communal shovel, neighbour bought our grit.
No proper snow here though this time, but the roads were damp and temperature dropping, so went out to the grit box by the short steep bit of the street, only to find the grit completely solid and I hadn't brought any sort of tool out. Scraped enough with my gloves to get the key bit done...hopefully.
Over at Leith Hill earlier. Reckon it would be fun riding on the Surrey Hills tomorrow morning, proper snow mostly confined to the top 100 feet but couple of inches of proper crunchy snow. Lower down was slush which will freeze tonight to nastyness I suppose...
No snow here but I usually clear the path out from the back (shared as I'm mid terrace) then shovel the pavement snow onto the road (mainly to stop people parking on it) then grit it. I think I'm the only person in miles who bothers, it's always someone else's job...
globalti - MemberWas out yesterday leafleting houses in hilly areas with Ibizas and Polos parked outside in an attempt to sell Mrs Gti's winter Ibiza tyres and was pleased to find that even with wide tyres my diesel Passat was good in snow if I just allowed it to bumble along on tickover, which is walking pace. As soon as I gave it throttle the wheels span and it began to slide.
This mad, obsessive behaviour continues to fascinate me! Please let us know if you have any responses or success. Going out to do it in the snow, seems even more mad*. How much are you prepared to spend to get them sold? Are they cursed or something, and must be got rid of at all costs?!?
* No more mad then me falling over constantly while battling the snow yesterday on a ride, but that's normal for here....
Oh, I cleared the road and driveway leading up to our house, for the benefit of ourselves (other half does not like parking on ice) and neighbours. Nobody came out to help, but quite happy to do it myself.