http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21296&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&sid=2f754242506e2c211b9f8e3725171569Have repeated the link from samandben's post to make it clickableI have spent time looking into gritting.
Early this year in Cumbria, we had an unusual circumstance with our weather which resulted in pavements and roads becoming treacherously icy, and our council came in for much criticism.
I found myself defending them, because the gritting of roads has many implications on several levels.
Firstly, the expense - the grit itself is the least of this - the manpower required to apply the salt - often in the early hours can involve councils in huge expense, and council funding often does not allow for this.
Secondly there remains the problem of physics. If you grit - then it rains, the water will wash away the salt - then if it freezes, you have to be able to apply the grit AFTER the point at which the water run off will not take the salt with it - but before it freezes. It obviously takes time to access all the miles of roads, so at some point some roads remain untreated.
Thirdly, salt is only effective down to a certain temperature.
Finally there is the environmental aspect of placing tons of salt into drains and surface run off.
Cumbria's problems this year arose from a spell of repeated snowing, freezing and thawing over two days and nights, with snow layers which fell on treated surfaces, melted, then froze heavily. There was little the council could have done to alleviate the problem on any but a few roads, as they have to prioritise busy routes - and in this instance this meant
re-gritting CERTAIN roads constantly, instead of moving on to lesser used routes.
In the yard outside my works, the efforts of myself and my neighbours were of little effect, and after three days, we had to CHISEL the ice from the surfaces, as it was so well affixed that salt could not penetrate it.
So how do they cope abroad?
Well on the continent, they more often than not experience colder DRIER weather. In Scandanavia, they sometimes drive ON the ice with studded tyres - and they do not suffer the SMOOTH ice as a result of thawing and freezing.
In some parts of New Zealand they put SAND on the ice and drive ON IT rather than attempt to melt it.
Unfortunately our climate would render most of the options above useless. Sand and studded tyres only work if the ice remains deeply frozen for long periods.
Gritting roads by the most quick and efficient means, relies on other vehicles driving on the grit to crush the grains of salt and spread them over the road surface. For this reason, gritting in the middle of the night can be counter productive - in the morning rush hour, patches of ice remain in between areas thick with grit.
Even when it DOES work, it does not last. Look to see how dust and litter accumulate at the centre and margins of the road when it is being driven on constantly - the same thing happens to the salt on the road - it liquefies, then is splashed to the margins, slowly reducing the effectiveness on the driven areas.
I don't ever foresee a time when the budget and economy of most councils could ever support a 100% effective solution to either removing the hazard, or even being able to warn of 100% of the areas affected.
I believe the answer is in a combination of treatment of the most vulnerable areas, and driver education.
However with the number of drivers on the road already who do NOT have sufficient information and training, it will be an uphill struggle for some time - hampered by those drivers who fail to see the need to improve their skills, and who choose to ignore advice.
I feel that the government led drive to portray speeding above posted limits, as a huge issue which masks the pursuit of a proper road safety policy - and this is supported in some areas such as Swindon, who have withdrawn their support for the speed camera program in pursuit of other avenues.
I hope that in the future more is done in a similar vein by other councils, because the Governments position is too well entrenched for them to back down without a lengthy face saving exercise.
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She needs this reassurance.
appreciate your responses since I posted the summary of my Daughter's smash. She is an inspiration....e.g., telling us, while lying in Intensive Care 4 hours after the smash, "We're a strong family unit, so this thing's happened, nothing can change it so let's work together to make the best of it"! 5 months ago, her spine was severed, now she's 'back-to-work' as she's now able to transfer from bed to wheelchair, from wheelchair to car!
) I do not know how beneficial the molasses are, I assume included to help the grit stick on the road? 
is perhaps better able than me to reply as she''s sitting on some stats from her homeland - digesting them still before launching off at warp speed "rentamiaow" pace .. 
The Swiss think it gave a better grip .. prevented accidents and the slighter coarser surface prevented ice/black ice to form. I note IG has mentioned Durham are resurfacing with "anti-skid material at key points" It will be interesting to see how this affects their statistics (which are consistently lower than the national average 
When it evaporates and a deep cold front comes in .. black ice!
(USING A SPELL CHECKER) to demonstrate 
