I know nothing about winter tyres, so can those of you who do know about them tell me if driving on them when there is no snow can damage them or the car?
Someone told me that they are only really to be used when there is snow everywhere you drive and that you have to take them off again once the blizzards have gone.
Which is fine in countries where they have months of non stop snow on the ground, but not fine here when it's so unpredictable.
Winter Tyres are designed for use when the temperature averages 7 deg or less. It is a very common misconception that you need snow and ice on the roads for them to be effective. Due to their design you will have more control and shorter braking distances in these conditions.
No, I left home one hour earlier than expected and I still arrived late. Simply because the buses and trains were so infrequent. (Plus a waste of money and time)
If, as in the UK, snow is not a common occurance it is not worth the capital outlay to prepare for the worse so we just have to muddle through.
In places like parts of Germany and Norway where there is thick snow every winter then it pays to have snowploughs etc on every corner....
That said, after last winter perhaps we will have to start investing more in snow clearance if this keeps up.... Thats global warming for you....
Cologne/Bonn has similar weather to England. Last three years have been much worse for snow etc, just like in England
I think when you calculate all the money lost due to commuters not being able to get to work, children kept off school etc it would be better to invest in more preventive measures. Someone on SKY was talking about Farmers getting paid to use some of their vehicles as snow ploughs, after all we KNEW this was coming why not get more council workers (or dare I say unemployed??LOL) to work clearing up the streets and motorways?
The British (and Irish) are known for being magnificant in a crisis yet the attitude seems to be let somebody else do it!!!!! A poor commuter was on the telly this morning saying he paid three thousand plus for his season ticket and was being treated worse than an animal!!!! Something has to be done to improve the whole system as it works in other countries, most of the time.
Because unlike in Germany it doesn't snow widespread in England every year. Even in Scotland snow at lowland levels is usually a patchy affair outside of the NE corner.
Our winters have for the best part of 20 years been generally mild and snow free in Southern Counties. You'd have to go back to the early 1990s to find winters as snowy as the one just past, or the one just starting it seems.
Therefore "winter tyres" etc are a pretty pointless affair for a country with a mild temperate maritime climate like ours where normally snow days can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
I do not live in Hamburg or Hannover I live in Bonn and the weather is the same as in England, normally light snow, if we get any at all, which disappears overnight, rainy and cold but over the last three years it has got worse. Basically whatever weather you guys have in the S.E. of England (I have English TV!!) we get the next day!!!!!
Simple fact it does not snow enough in the UK to justify spending billions snow clearing equipment, In Scandinavia Gemany and rusia, it snows every year from Nov-March so they have the infrastucture to deal with it, Here apart from the last two winters we normaly only get a couple of bad snow storms a year, so the expenditure can not be justified.
So how do you explain Holland coping perfectly well with the weather and one of our main airports will have been closed for at least two days?
It is down to too much cost saving and poor planning.
So how do you explain Holland coping perfectly well with the weather and one of our main airports will have been closed for at least two days?
It is down to too much cost saving and poor planning.
How much snow have they had in comparison to Gatwick? Has it snowed constantly for a whole day, which makes runway and road clearance and pointless and futile affair.
The US are just as here would have closed its aiports in such conditions.
I do think that in England and particularly in the south, it's impossible to prepare as we often go for several years in a row with no snow at all, or just a faint dusting which is gone in a couple of days.
In countries where they are guaranteed to have snow every winter then they are automatically better prepared as they have to be. They have the snow ploughs, the grit and so on because they know without a doubt it will snow, whereas we do not.
You could argue that Scotland could have been better prepared I suppose, but the volume they have had to deal with this week is unprecedented even up there! Also, the snowfall is much earlier this year. The temperatures that they are having to cope with are so out there it seems almost unreal!! I'm sure people will rush to correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Scotland sees temps of minus double figures that often.
So we do the best we can and we struggle on. We don't have the money to invest in costly equipment which may well be sitting idle for most of the time, we are living in a tough economic climate, so I don't expect things to improve anytime soon.
The problem with trains in the snow is the third rail which carries the electricity. It freezes and contact can't be made with the trains. This is mainly the commuter trains rather than the long distance ones. Unlike in Europe where they have overhead cables.
Cologne/Bonn has similar weather to England. Last three years have been much worse for snow etc, just like in England
I think when you calculate all the money lost due to commuters not being able to get to work, children kept off school etc it would be better to invest in more preventive measures. Someone on SKY was talking about Farmers getting paid to use some of their vehicles as snow ploughs, after all we KNEW this was coming why not get more council workers (or dare I say unemployed??LOL) to work clearing up the streets and motorways?
The British (and Irish) are known for being magnificant in a crisis yet the attitude seems to be let somebody else do it!!!!! A poor commuter was on the telly this morning saying he paid three thousand plus for his season ticket and was being treated worse than an animal!!!! Something has to be done to improve the whole system as it works in other countries, most of the time.
Did you not read the links put to you earlier in the thread showing that Germany, Russia, Sweden etc are also having problems coping with the weather? Countries that are used to heavy and prolonged snow each year and yet when it first comes also struggle. If it puts them into a spin, they surely a country that isn't used to snow is also allowed to get into a spin?
I do think that in England and particularly in the south, it's impossible to prepare as we often go for several years in a row with no snow at all, or just a faint dusting which is gone in a couple of days.
In countries where they are guaranteed to have snow every winter then they are automatically better prepared as they have to be. They have the snow ploughs, the grit and so on because they know without a doubt it will snow, whereas we do not.
You could argue that Scotland could have been better prepared I suppose, but the volume they have had to deal with this week is unprecedented even up there! Also, the snowfall is much earlier this year. The temperatures that they are having to cope with are so out there it seems almost unreal!! I'm sure people will rush to correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Scotland sees temps of minus double figures that often.
So we do the best we can and we struggle on. We don't have the money to invest in costly equipment which may well be sitting idle for most of the time, we are living in a tough economic climate, so I don't expect things to improve anytime soon.
Actually, we do - our government just chooses to spend it on other things, like aircraft carriers and High Explosives.
A foot of snow and the south east grinds to a halt. lol
You do know how deep a foot of snow is? anyway, the SE hasn't groud to a halt and Dancing Girl, what's the "total chaos" you talk of, did you mean disruptions to travel?
The stupidity of some people amazes me in cold weather:
1) A woman at Glasgow Queen Street yesterday yelling at a ticket-gate inspector saying how disgraceful it was that trains had been cancelled because of the snow - after all, she said, she had paid for her ticket and expected to get home. She then started demanding a bus service. I assume she hadn't seen the gridlocked traffic outside, the stupid mare. Like the train service has a fleet of coaches standing by 'just in case'.
2) People on the roads who cannot even observe the basic two-second gap in icy weather. I had a massive lorry up on my tail yesterday - the ****. And also, just because the sign says 50, doesn't mean you have to drive at that speed in bad weather.
I wonder how many consecutive years of heavy snowfall we will have to endure before there is a change in attitude towards spending serious money on snowclearing.
What happens if we have 3-4 years of snow - the councils then go out and decide to spend millions on snow-ploughs, then we have 5 years of mild winters with no snow. There would be uproar about the "waste of council tax".
Its a no win scenario with weather as variable as ours.
What happens if we have 3-4 years of snow - the councils then go out and decide to spend millions on snow-ploughs, then we have 5 years of mild winters with no snow. There would be uproar about the "waste of council tax".
Its a no win scenario with weather as variable as ours.
Aye, the country is obsessed with 'council waste' - brings to mind Oscar Wilde's comment about people knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing. :rolleyes:
People complain like this is something unique to Britain. My wife was in Barcelona earlier in the year - and got snowed in (airpost closed due to snow - sound familiar?).
How much snow have they had in comparison to Gatwick? Has it snowed constantly for a whole day, which makes runway and road clearance and pointless and futile affair.
The US are just as here would have closed its aiports in such conditions.
Yesterday there was more snow at East Midlands than at Gatwick. They simply were not prepared enough. However as I was due to fly out from Gatwick today I may also be somewhat bitter :mad:
I do think that in England and particularly in the south, it's impossible to prepare as we often go for several years in a row with no snow at all, or just a faint dusting which is gone in a couple of days.
In countries where they are guaranteed to have snow every winter then they are automatically better prepared as they have to be. They have the snow ploughs, the grit and so on because they know without a doubt it will snow, whereas we do not.
You could argue that Scotland could have been better prepared I suppose, but the volume they have had to deal with this week is unprecedented even up there! Also, the snowfall is much earlier this year. The temperatures that they are having to cope with are so out there it seems almost unreal!! I'm sure people will rush to correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Scotland sees temps of minus double figures that often.
So we do the best we can and we struggle on. We don't have the money to invest in costly equipment which may well be sitting idle for most of the time, we are living in a tough economic climate, so I don't expect things to improve anytime soon.
I think you are right I live out in the sticks of Aberdeenshire in the hills to the west and we are rarely snowed in even though we now have at least 2 feet of snow, although now we decamp to Aberdeen as it's too far and petrol prices:o 50 miles each way. My OH drove back to the house last night and even though we are 2.5 miles off the main road was able to get right up to the house due to clear gritted main road and farmers clearing the side roads. Getting to the door was another matter :eek:, but he did make it. Mind there is a ski centre not far away so I think this might have something to do with it.
A foot of snow and the south east grinds to a halt. lol
A foot of snow and most of the northern hemisphere grinds to a halt. I don't think people like you actually apreciate the logistics of maintaining normality in these sorts of conditions.
Its impossible to clear snow off of a road while its still snowing heavily. To try it is a waste of time, money and fuel.
Annoys me how we are never ready for it, we are always given signals that it's going to be bad, but i always ends up in chaos and the whole world stops... when in other countries they are used to it.
Snow is becoming more common, up until last year i don't remember very heavy snow.
No, I left home one hour earlier than expected and I still arrived late. Simply because the buses and trains were so infrequent. (Plus a waste of money and time)
well i dont know about buses but you are entitled to a refund onb your rail ticket!
Annoys me how we are never ready for it, we are always given signals that it's going to be bad, but i always ends up in chaos and the whole world stops... when in other countries they are used to it.
Snow is becoming more common, up until last year i don't remember very heavy snow.
Yet if you read the news reports in these other countries that are used to it, they also struggle when it comes as already pointed out on this thread including links. I am not sure how we can be ready for it to a stage it causes no problems at all.
A foot of snow and most of the northern hemisphere grinds to a halt. I don't think people like you actually apreciate the logistics of maintaining normality in these sorts of conditions.
Its impossible to clear snow off of a road while its still snowing heavily. To try it is a waste of time, money and fuel.
I don't think he understands maths at all. A foot of snow is a hell of a lot.
However, the last part of your sentence isn't true. I remember 18 inches of snow falling in 24 hours over Chicago and most of Interstate 80 and things did not slow down one bit. Going west on I-80, you pick up states like Iowa, Wyoming, Utah-- places that are literally in the Mountain region of the USA and get oodles of snow. It's a case of anticipating the snow fall and having trucks and such gritting and salting in advance, plus every person who can plow, plowing. It would be a complete waste of money in this country to do that. However, having large stocks of salt would be a good idea.
It just doesn't snow this heavily in November in Britain. I've been here 8 years and have never seen it this cold or this snowing so early-- and I lived in Scotland for 5 of those years.
Comments
Winter Tyres are designed for use when the temperature averages 7 deg or less. It is a very common misconception that you need snow and ice on the roads for them to be effective. Due to their design you will have more control and shorter braking distances in these conditions.
No, I left home one hour earlier than expected and I still arrived late. Simply because the buses and trains were so infrequent. (Plus a waste of money and time)
Cologne/Bonn has similar weather to England. Last three years have been much worse for snow etc, just like in England
I think when you calculate all the money lost due to commuters not being able to get to work, children kept off school etc it would be better to invest in more preventive measures. Someone on SKY was talking about Farmers getting paid to use some of their vehicles as snow ploughs, after all we KNEW this was coming why not get more council workers (or dare I say unemployed??LOL) to work clearing up the streets and motorways?
The British (and Irish) are known for being magnificant in a crisis yet the attitude seems to be let somebody else do it!!!!! A poor commuter was on the telly this morning saying he paid three thousand plus for his season ticket and was being treated worse than an animal!!!! Something has to be done to improve the whole system as it works in other countries, most of the time.
I do not live in Hamburg or Hannover I live in Bonn and the weather is the same as in England, normally light snow, if we get any at all, which disappears overnight, rainy and cold but over the last three years it has got worse. Basically whatever weather you guys have in the S.E. of England (I have English TV!!) we get the next day!!!!!
It is down to too much cost saving and poor planning.
How much snow have they had in comparison to Gatwick? Has it snowed constantly for a whole day, which makes runway and road clearance and pointless and futile affair.
The US are just as here would have closed its aiports in such conditions.
In countries where they are guaranteed to have snow every winter then they are automatically better prepared as they have to be. They have the snow ploughs, the grit and so on because they know without a doubt it will snow, whereas we do not.
You could argue that Scotland could have been better prepared I suppose, but the volume they have had to deal with this week is unprecedented even up there! Also, the snowfall is much earlier this year. The temperatures that they are having to cope with are so out there it seems almost unreal!! I'm sure people will rush to correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Scotland sees temps of minus double figures that often.
So we do the best we can and we struggle on. We don't have the money to invest in costly equipment which may well be sitting idle for most of the time, we are living in a tough economic climate, so I don't expect things to improve anytime soon.
Did you not read the links put to you earlier in the thread showing that Germany, Russia, Sweden etc are also having problems coping with the weather? Countries that are used to heavy and prolonged snow each year and yet when it first comes also struggle. If it puts them into a spin, they surely a country that isn't used to snow is also allowed to get into a spin?
Actually, we do - our government just chooses to spend it on other things, like aircraft carriers and High Explosives.
It is merely a matter of priorities.
You do know how deep a foot of snow is? anyway, the SE hasn't groud to a halt and Dancing Girl, what's the "total chaos" you talk of, did you mean disruptions to travel?
1) A woman at Glasgow Queen Street yesterday yelling at a ticket-gate inspector saying how disgraceful it was that trains had been cancelled because of the snow - after all, she said, she had paid for her ticket and expected to get home. She then started demanding a bus service. I assume she hadn't seen the gridlocked traffic outside, the stupid mare. Like the train service has a fleet of coaches standing by 'just in case'.
2) People on the roads who cannot even observe the basic two-second gap in icy weather. I had a massive lorry up on my tail yesterday - the ****. And also, just because the sign says 50, doesn't mean you have to drive at that speed in bad weather.
Hell is other people, as they say.
What happens if we have 3-4 years of snow - the councils then go out and decide to spend millions on snow-ploughs, then we have 5 years of mild winters with no snow. There would be uproar about the "waste of council tax".
Its a no win scenario with weather as variable as ours.
Aye, the country is obsessed with 'council waste' - brings to mind Oscar Wilde's comment about people knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing. :rolleyes:
Yesterday there was more snow at East Midlands than at Gatwick. They simply were not prepared enough. However as I was due to fly out from Gatwick today I may also be somewhat bitter :mad:
I imagine if the snows that deep, it would bring practically anywhere outside of Alaska to a halt.
I think you are right I live out in the sticks of Aberdeenshire in the hills to the west and we are rarely snowed in even though we now have at least 2 feet of snow, although now we decamp to Aberdeen as it's too far and petrol prices:o 50 miles each way. My OH drove back to the house last night and even though we are 2.5 miles off the main road was able to get right up to the house due to clear gritted main road and farmers clearing the side roads. Getting to the door was another matter :eek:, but he did make it. Mind there is a ski centre not far away so I think this might have something to do with it.
A foot of snow and most of the northern hemisphere grinds to a halt. I don't think people like you actually apreciate the logistics of maintaining normality in these sorts of conditions.
Its impossible to clear snow off of a road while its still snowing heavily. To try it is a waste of time, money and fuel.
Snow is becoming more common, up until last year i don't remember very heavy snow.
well i dont know about buses but you are entitled to a refund onb your rail ticket!
oh yes because scotland & the north are carrying on as normal eh?
cancelled trains, cancelled buses, shops closed, trams cancelled, people not being able to leave their houses, cars being snowed in!!
yes they asre coping so much better up north eh :rolleyes::rolleyes:
Yet if you read the news reports in these other countries that are used to it, they also struggle when it comes as already pointed out on this thread including links. I am not sure how we can be ready for it to a stage it causes no problems at all.
I don't think he understands maths at all. A foot of snow is a hell of a lot.
However, the last part of your sentence isn't true. I remember 18 inches of snow falling in 24 hours over Chicago and most of Interstate 80 and things did not slow down one bit. Going west on I-80, you pick up states like Iowa, Wyoming, Utah-- places that are literally in the Mountain region of the USA and get oodles of snow. It's a case of anticipating the snow fall and having trucks and such gritting and salting in advance, plus every person who can plow, plowing. It would be a complete waste of money in this country to do that. However, having large stocks of salt would be a good idea.
It just doesn't snow this heavily in November in Britain. I've been here 8 years and have never seen it this cold or this snowing so early-- and I lived in Scotland for 5 of those years.