Reasonably practicable gritting question.

[sickpup]

Had a small whoopsie this morning on some ice at low speed and when I went back to look at the scene it would appear that the road was only gritted VERY lightly if at all on one side and nothing on the other ie on a road running north to south only the west kerb had grit against it.
Also I travelled down a dual carriageway this morning on my side of the central reservation only one lane was gritted as opposed to two lanes on the opposite carriageway.

Highways act 1980 (as amended) section 41 (1a) states....

[MarJay]

Aren't you normally the first one to espouse personal responsibility in these kinds of situations?
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[sickpup]

[Ingah]

I wouldn't say it is reasonable for you to expect that, ergo it would not be reasonable for them to do that. If it's bad enough that one side of road needs to be gritted - then both sides of the road need gritting!

I'm not a judge though. And even if i was, 2 different judges would give probably give 2 different answers
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-- Ingah

[Walloper]

The, 'reasonably practical', is the magic phrase.

I drove to from York last night. -1.5 C the main 1089 was gritted but the back road was not. My 'experience' advised I slooooow the fcuk down.

I think the advise for winter driving is proceed with care.

I wrote off a brand new bike coming off a roundabout when I went back after the event I noticed even in normal temperatures the road surface was like glass due to the aggregate being worn down by heavy traffic.
I did want to claim the council/Region/Some bastirt but then thought I was the twit on the gas and if I had been more cautious I would not have came off and landed on my arse.

I don't know if there is much mileage in a claim but possibly worth a shot.
The difficulty though is evidence. And after the event, ice all melted, without any credible witness you may be stuffed
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W-ireless A-rtificial L-ifeform L-imited to O-bservation P-eacekeeping and E-fficient R-epair

[P.]

Gritters have 3 settings 10, 20 and 30.

They also have a 2m spreader on the back that "should" fling salt across 2 metres.

Usually depends on the severity of the weather report... some do a route once, some do it twice... in extreme cases they do it 3 or more times across an 8 hour period overnight.

Brother was a gritter lorry driver for well over 10 years and I've worked in his depot, must say it is a pretty risky job as it is, and I can understand where you are coming from, but they are given a route to do, given the lorry with the gritter back end, loaded with the correct salt and told to get on with it.

They do what they are told, they can only grit how and when they are told, you on the other hand can ride to the conditions. Would expect an experienced rider such as yourself to notice the road conditions far better than myself.

(In no way a dig at you... just an insight)

[sickpup]

[Walloper]

[sickpup]

[P.]

[J.M.]

[sickpup]

Paddy

Thank you for the insight.
I suspect it was a residential gritter from your description of the grit spread but that it was driven on the left so as to not damage cars to it's right and then on the clear parts there just wasn't enough spread for it to cover the whole roads.
Although it is a main road with a bus route on it there are houses on both sides so is considered residential BUT the roads to the north are narrower and the roads to the south wider so I wonder if it was just a bad choice of appliance that caused the problem. Could well just be a bad choice in the logistics of the grit delivery.

This morning I put in a complaint to the Highways Department so hopefully regardless of any action this won't happen again.

Strange part of this is I have not encountered any problems like this in the 4 years I have ridden this road and have to wonder if it has been caused by the change this year to the latest Econ low level spreaders. Off the top of my head I rode this road last Christmas eve when it was -7 with no problems.

[Gothtec]

[sickpup]

[Cunnington]

Glad to hear the damage isn't too severe.

Having worked for a local authority roads service, the standard response to a complaint would be to check whether the procedures drafted to ensure compliance with their statutory obligations had been followed.

If these procedures were to be challenged, cue a series of "expert" witnesses to establish the optimum gritting routes for the prevailing weather based upon the type of gritting plant employed etc, etc. By definintion, it is not practicible to ensure no ice forms on any road surface at any time, therefore there will always be an element of opinion involved.

Some more background:
The most effective means of deicing is to pre-grit, which stops the ice from forming. From distant memory it is something like 3 times as effective as spreading salt on ice.

Keeping the salt on the road is the next challenge it can get blown off by passing traffic (which is why some gritters have water tanks along the body - wetting the salt helps it stick to the road) or rain washes it off, therefore timing of the application of the deicing salt is critical, and the responsible authority will have an entire network to consider.

TLDR
I would expect that the onus would be on you to demonstrate that the responsible authority had failed to meet their statutory obligations. They will likely state that as they have followed their procedures designed to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, that their statutory requirements were discharged, they are not at fault.
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The Shaggy D.A. wrote: "You are invisible. Those who can see you are trying to kill you."

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

If it's below -5 Celsius the effectiveness of rocksalt questionable.

Just thought i'd add that.
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[Raffles]

I seem to recall a case a few years ago where a fellow totalled his car and attempted to sue the local authority for not clearing the snow/ice. I think that the men in wigs threw the case out saying something along the lines of it not being the authorities responsibility and that they could simply carry on doing as little as they pleased.
On the subject of the actual gritters, I followed one heading south down the M1 yesterday from Leeds and it was travelling down the middle lane (1st overtaking lane) spewing grit out to the left and to the right. When it reached South Yorkshire, just north of Barnsley, it stopped gritting and exited at the next junction presumably to travel back north and resume gritting the West Yorkshire section.
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A good loser will always be a loser.

[Gothtec]

I actually dislike gritting, it takes responsibility for your own safety from yourself... But they don't allow snowchains etc on your vehicle so your stuffed on that point....

Its also why I need a cheap winter hack.... doesn't matter if I drop it
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[johnsmith222]

[WannaBeDude]

Shit riding .................. again !

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Jogging on, destination living.

[Walloper]