I retired for bed last night with the latest Met Office warning still ringing in my ears but also providing me with a wry childlike smile, one very reminiscent of those that accompany juvenile wind.
Drifting off into my slumber I thought great, not only do the nation’s emergency services have the after effect excesses of ‘black Friday‘ to contend with, now they will also have muppet motorists causing problems…
BBC Headlines: Heavy snow and ice cause disruption across the UK (Read more)
Driving in severe winter weather poses many challenges. Cars can get stuck in snowy conditions even on familiar roads. (Read more)
No shit? Really? What a surprise!
As a result of last winters “unusual” cold weather, an independent review (see here) was ordered by the government in March 2010. The report and its findings were published in October and less than a month later the nation was plunged into winter chaos once again!
BBC: For the third year running the UK is suffering snow-induced chaos, so are we any closer to answering the perennial question of why we can’t cope? (Read more)
To be fair, there was less than a month between the report’s publication and the next blast of white stuff so, it would be a little unfair to expect local authorities to have implemented any tangible process change. As we all grind to a frozen halt again, and British business looses more millions, perhaps we should take solace at the usual “lessons have been learned” comments. Up and down the nation Highways Department CEOs are shovelling out the usual bullshit in an effort to placate the public however, are they and the local authorities really the ones at fault? What ‘lessons’ have actually been learnt by British motorists? How many of those so-called ‘snow days’, taken far too easily by some, are actually shopping days or couldn’t be arsed to get out of bed and scrape the car days?
The public in this country are almost as blame worthy as many of our councils when it comes to inadequacy and incompetence due to snow. Lack of forward planning, lack of self and vehicle preparation , along with the use of unsuitable vehicles/tyres for prevailing road conditions, probably have a greater negative impact than any lack of council gritting.
And by the way Met Office, where’s my bloody snow that you promised? It snow joke!
Related Articles
- Snow and big freeze to return to UK (guardian.co.uk)
- Big freeze: White weekend as snow spells chaos in run-up to Christmas (dailymail.co.uk)
- Big Freeze II: Britain on standby as Arctic blast brings fresh snow and disruption (telegraph.co.uk)
- Next Big Freeze Set To Bring Chaos To Britain (news.sky.com)
Dave's Bankside Babble 
Our lack of preparedness is always put down to finance. It’s just not worth being prepared because the weather usually ain’t bad enough. This now may not be true if we believe some stuff on sun spots and the jet-stream, based on historical data. I used to have a set of snow chains – now our car doesn’t even come with a spare tyre (though with 24 hr breakdown and a gunge pump).
I wonder whether any of the ‘ring your airline’ advice is any good? They don’t seem to have any information for the poor sods stuck at the airports.
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