Why does snow cripple the UK?!?!

Right, why oh why, does a bit of snow bring Britain to its knees? Many other countries manage to function perfectly well when they are under snow and ice for 6-12 months of the year. For example, Alaska, Sweden, Norway, Finland.....and any other country right up there in or near the Arctic Circle. Here, public transport stops (including trains), food supply lorries stop, fuel lorries stop, post stops, everything stops, and everyone suffers in some way.

Many places there have advanced systems in order to keep their cars from freezing over night such as a facility to plug in their car to an electric socket which runs a heater element to keep the coolant warm. They have more advanced snow ploughing routines, ok that's because they are used to it and get a lot more snow than we do for longer than we do. Obviously measures like this would cost a lot to implement, especially during a recession. However, there are a variety of basic measures available which can be implemented here in Britain at the drop of a hat, and wouldn't cost the Government a single penny.

The first measure I would like to have implemented is for them to allow snow tyres to be legal on British roads, as I believe they are currently banned due to the damage they can do to non icy tarmac. Never mind the fact that thousands of people every year are victims of car accidents because no commercially available tyre in Britain is suitable for driving on ice or snow. Snow tyres are a bare minimum requirement in countries like Sweden when the snow sets in each year. Why cant we use them here, if everyone had a spare set of wheels in their garage with snow tyres fitted, a hell of a lot of damage to people's property would be avoided. and perhaps they could tax the snow tyres to account for the extra damage to the tarmac (though where I live in west Wales, the council resurface the roads every summer anyway).



The second and final measure which would prevent accidents and prevent public transport from having to be withdrawn is ADVICE!! If on the news, there was to be an "expert" issuing advice on driving on ice and snow, instead of just saying not to go out "unless you have to". Of course, we have to, people work, therefore they need to travel. But, as it is not part of the driving test, (and yes, they can create icy surfaces to test us on) people do not know how to drive properly on snow. The amount of people I see stuck on hills revving their cars in 1st gear trying to make progress and failing is ridiculous. I was lucky enough to have several driving lessons at a time of year where there was ice and snow on the roads, and my instructor was good enough to talk me through it and drum it into me the correct technique for driving in these conditions. Yes, I agree, the roads are still going to be treacherous, and yes, I agree, there will still be accidents, but, this simple step could prevent more than a few.

All the news would have to put up is a few bullet points during the weather broadcast advising people that when driving on ice or snow to drive at slow speeds obviously, and to keep their car in a high gear and maintain as low revs as possible (when I drive in snow all I hear is my instructor repeating the phrase "HIGH GEAR, LOW REVS!"). Also, not to use their footbrake. Instead, use engine braking by dropping down to 2nd or 1st gear to slow the wheels rather than locking them with the brakes. And lastly, not to make any sudden movements, whether it be the steering, slowing down, or speeding up. if everything is done in plenty of time, then you shouldn't encounter too much problems on the road.

Perhaps a more long term measure would be for the UK driving test to include some basic training at driving on slippery surfaces, even if they have to build an ice rink in major towns to accommodate this. You can't continue to give young people a poor quality level of tuition and then expect them not to go on to make mistakes in their driving careers. This isn't for driving instructors to implement, the Government needs to roll out a new minimum level of skill in order for people to be allowed to drive a motor vehicle on the road. This is relevant for everyone from the every day commuter, to housewives going to the shops, to lorry drivers and as they're responsible for the lives of potentially hundreds of lives at once, drivers operating public transport.