True Grit?

Now, i've been thinking a lot recently about the situation in the UK with regards to winter weather. At the first sign of a frost, airports close, trains run even further from their schedules as usual, panic buying ensues, and people prepare themselves to find their elderly relatives' frozen bodies in their living room chairs.

But what always proves to be the perennial image I see on news reports, and the image that annoys me the most, is the endless VT of traffic jams, lorries in ditches, and cars struggling to climb an icy hill with a gradient to match the most mountainous parts of the Netherlands.

Of course, it is a well known fact that when the bad weather does arrive, local councils always appear to have inadequate supplies of salt, and despite their best efforts fail to keep all but motorways usable.

Now, as tax-payers, and more importantly council tax payers, we feel well within our rights to moan and complain about the state of things. About how the baboons in local government have yet again squandered our hard earned money on giving the hoodies somewhere to take their uppers and play with their uzis, instead of ensuring their counties roads are in a usable state to allow those of us that bother to have a jobs to actually get to them. This outcry of annoyance is something I can sympathise with, although I do not totally believe that all the blame should be levelled at the local authorities. Is there something we can do ourselves to help keep things moving when the inevitable deluge of the wrong type of snow hits?

I too didn't know whether to laugh or break out some special expletives this afternoon when I learnt the outcome of the nations inaugural 'Grit Summit'. For those who don't know what i'm talking about; councils from around the country used even more of our money sending disliked colleagues on a day out to Silverstone, to hobnob with 'experts' from the motor industry about the salt shortages this past winter. Or, in their words 'to forge a national winter weather policy'.

I'm guessing that no-one present saw fit to point out that the government should spend less money worrying about the amount of salt we have in our cornflakes, and more money on ensuring there's enough salt to keep the M11 open through the winter.

However, to say that the money spent on the summit was wasted would be unfair. The delegates did find some time between their tea and cherry bakewells to outline some recommendations to local governments to take on board for winters to come. Such as setting up regional salt depots to avoid cuts in supply from the national depot in Cheshire.

It is my belief that some simple legislation could help the situation considerably.

Germany is a country in which I have lived, and like many continental countries, have a very different attitude towards dealing with winter weather. When it snows in Germany - it snows - lots. However, you would still be hard pushed to find a train not running to schedule, or an Autobahn closed because of a couple of centimeters of snow have drifted its way.

Of course, local authorities have the snow ploughs and gritters out in force, but the effort doesn't stop there. Stretches of the Autobahn have little machines installed in the road surface that pop up every so often and squirt the road with some sort of anti-freeze concoction, likely to have been developed and tested on children in the early 1940's.

This is not the end of winter motoring regime the Germans have adopted. One single piece of government legislation, the use of one thing, does enough all on its own to ensure the supermarkets don't run out of sheeps lung soup.

Winter Tyres.

Incredible to think such things exist.

The general rule in most German states is that from late October to early March, or, once the average ambient temperature falls below an average of 8 degrees, your Trabant should be sporting winter shoes, and not summer or all-weather ones. The net result of your cars change of footwear is that in most wintry weather conditions, you can complete a journey in your car in almost the same manner as you would on summers afternoon.

Of course you still need to take care in such weather conditions, but the main difference is that when you have winter tyres on your car you can pull away on snow, corner on snow and stop on snow without the fear of having to have the Opel in front surgically removed from the front end of you Audi.

Recently, I was driving a car using winter tyres on a snow covered M25 around London. In addition to the pleasure of comparatively safe driving in such conditions, the journey is made even better when overtaking a snowbound 4WD SUV at 60mph, accentuated further by the looks of horror being purported from the shivering faces inside as I performed the manoeuvre.

Another recommendation tabled at the gathering at Silverstone was the diversion of funds from the NHS to fund additional grit to be used on footpaths, thus preventing the countries accident and emergency facilities being innundated with old ladies suffering from broken hips. A good idea in essence, however, I feel compelled once again to look eastwards once more.

Another winter regime employed by the Germans is that of ice and snow clearance by the public. All preventative measures must be taken to ensure ice or snow does not lie on the footpaths surrounding your home. The general rule here is to grit any public area around your property, and to ensure it is all free of snow and ice by 7am daily. Failure to do so, results in a visit from the Polizei, a fine or being shot in the head.

They may be a race of sausage wielding, humourless drunks - but this is something they have got right.

Which makes more sense here? Deprive an already crippled NHS of more money? Or get people off their arses every once in a while to throw some salt outside the door?

I'm sure I spend most of the time contradicting my own arguments. However, one argument in my mind seems perfectly clear. A no-brainer.

Do we continue to allow these oafs to waste our taxes in leaving us stranded each winter? Or do we spend 30 pounds a year on salting outside our homes, and 300 pounds for some tyres and rims that will last 3-5 years? We can keep the country moving, and safeguard the NHS' already depleting supply of artificial joints.