Yes, I was bored and my mind was wandering while driving home earlier!
You are on a normal road, one lane in your direction, one lane coming towards you. There are no opportunities to pull off this road. You notice a gritter heading towards you. To do the least damage to your paintwork, do you do you...
a) Slow down/stay at your normal speed.
or
b) Speed up so that the grit is being sprayed on your car for less time (but maybe with greater force because you're hitting it harder because of your speed)?
Is there a definitive answer?
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One thing I can tell you from personal experience is that it is a huge mistake to continue to smoke with the window down in that scenario. Ouch..........nearly gave up !
:-(
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Swerve and stop in front of the gritter making him and his gritting stop.
Then drive safely around him.
Edited by mfarrow on 06/01/2009 at 21:18
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Swerve and stop in front of the gritter making him and his gritting stop. Then drive safely around him.
>>
Try that with the seriously big ploughs in the Scottish highlands and you could get ploughed off the road. ;-)
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Many years ago I was going up the southern approach to the Glen Shee ski area when I saw a big 6 wheel snowplough/gritter coming down the hill gritting at about 50 MPH. I stopped but it took out my windscreen and radiator (no aircon in those days). I would say slow down or stop if you can to reduce the impact speed.
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Its OK if you have a Citroen Saxa
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Don't they get peppered just the same ?.........
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Yes, but it doesn't matter !
I was driving to work in Huddersfield about 6 in the morning. There were deep snowdrifts along the road near the 'Floating Light' pub. However the ploughs had been out and left a nice cutting for us to drive through. Round a bend I came across a car at the side of the road, the back end was stoved in right up to the B post.
I think it had been abandoned during the night....and the snowplough had 'found' it, at speed!
Ted
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I was on the M4 a year or so ago and came up behind 2 gritters in formation and luckily I managed to pull back a bit and divert into the services for 20 mins to ensure they had long gone
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One for the Mythbusters? But they are based in San Francisco so might not have gritters.
They proved you got wetter running in the rain instead of walking once.
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Many years ago and driving with a newish car - I once saw a gritter approaching at speed in the dark with what looked like a corona surrounding it. I went straight up someone`s longish drive and reversed out when it had passed.
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Good move, pity I didnt have that option.
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One for the Mythbusters? ... They proved you got wetter running in the rain instead of walking once. >> Gritters... like running v walking in the rain?
IMO. The answer is No, because the two are not comparable.
Because for them to be comparable, you would need to be running a non-stop gauntlet of gritters. The gritter will be passed in a fraction of time.
[The question is comparable to asking whether you will get wetter walking through under a bathroom shower or wetter running through under a bathroom shower. ]
However, the the speed of impact of grit your car will depend on the relative speed at which your car is approaching the oncoming grit. So to minimise the damage, you ought to bring your car speed to zero, and let the gritter go past before resuming your journey.
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You're off on one again jbif. You like quoting and misquoting :-)
Gritters... like running v walking in the rain?
You're good at misquoting.
I never compared the Mythbuster test with what happens with gritters. I suggested someone like them would need to test and prove if it's better to drive slow or fast past the gritter. We can surmise and guess but never know.
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You're good at misquoting.
;-) I think you are good at reading meanings in to my posts which don't exist.
I was merely trying to kill two birds with one stone.
p.s. and I am not saying you and/or PG are birds.
Edited by jbif on 06/01/2009 at 23:21
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Its OK if you have a Citroen Saxa
or a TVR Cerebos.
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Years ago my Brother-in-law was a snow plough driver. Coming down a section of the A1 near Dunbar, sheet ice on the road... Audi A4 coming the other way turned right - and stright in front of him. Audi got stuck on the black ice, B-in-law couldn't stop. Plough blade sheared off the front end of the A4, spun it round then cut most of the rear (boot) section off.
The woman driver couldn't understand how she couldn't get out of the car )since the door was now at ground level) - but she and her two (unbelted) youngsters in the back were unhurt.
The plough carried out (it had 30 tonnes of salt on its load) and demolished two signposts, a street light, and the garden wall of a house!
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Would they damage the wheels on my XJ6?
They are pepperpot alloys, you see.
I'll fetch my coat......
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Is there a definitive answer?
Yes. Slow down because the amount of damage caused to your car depends on the speed with which the salt hits it, not the amount. Incidentally, I've never yet seen any damage caused by meeting a salting lorry, and due to the close proximity of the council depot to our house we meet a lot.
I've just found out (by googling for "winter road salt" that different councils use different mixtures and apply it differently. For example, Hampshire council sprays liquid brine onto the salt as it is discharged. tinyurl.com/9n579r
Edited by L'escargot on 07/01/2009 at 07:45
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How come salting lorry drivers have no difficulty before salt has been spread, and yet car drivers do?
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Perhaps thirty tons of salt in the back helps traction?
They probably return over salted roads!
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Perhaps thirty tons of salt in the back helps traction?
Probably doesn't help steering, and that's what affects most car drivers not traction.
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How come salting lorry drivers have no difficulty before salt has been spread and yet car drivers do?
They do have difficulty sometimes. I've seen them go backwards up hills near us.
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>>How come gritters/ploughs have no trouble.
1. 30 tonnes helping traction.
2. Snow/Ice tyres fitted as standard - they must be...
3. Snow chains when it is particularly bad.
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OK , but how does the bloke get to work ?
;-)
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;-) I know a chap who used to drive a snowplough in Ontario. Occasionally he would relieve the boredom of a long cold night by taking out rows of mailboxes
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....taking out rows of mailboxes....
Perhaps he was pretending to be Richard Burton in the "Where Eagles Dare bus with snow plough detonating telegraph poles scene"
fr.youtube.com/watch?v=oRNcn8kw9Co - round about the 3 min 20 sec mark
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OK , but how does the bloke get to work ? >>
;-) As per Mapmaker here:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=70829&...e
Note "winter tyres".
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How come salting lorry drivers have no difficulty before salt has been spread
They're very heavy, so that should make them slide on ice more easily... perhaps it's something to do with the number or size of wheels.
and yet car drivers do?
The drivers have no experience of driving on icy surfaces, and/or are incompetent.
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>>The drivers have no experience of driving on icy surfaces...
For me a year in Labrador was a worthwhile apprenticeship.
Many moons ago, though.
Clk Sec
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last time we had any significant snow fall, the Ploughs actually made it worse! With a good 6-9 inches on the roads, they were virtually impassable to anything or anybody bar the "stupid", so very few bothered to even try, but once the ploughs had been about, there was mayhem! the ploughs seemed to have thier blade set about 2" high (to avoid taking cats-eyes out?) and so shoved an inviting pathway through the snow, which everyman and his dog tried to use, but driving on 2" of snow caught most out! - would of been better/safer to leave road blocked!
Billy
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Do they salt the roads in France or Germany, or anywhere else on the condiment ?
Ted
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Many years ago, I took an olive coloured Vitesse to Germany at Easter (Triumph not any imitation), during very cold weather. Not dissimilar to what we're experiencing now.
During the day it was white in the bright sunshine. At night it turned black as all that salt absorbed the moisture. I wonder why it rusted away?
So in answer to your question. They certainly used to.
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Many years ago, when I was young and fit, I was cycling down a long straight road, wearing shorts.
I was overtaken by a gritting lorry.
It was not a pleasant experience.
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Do they salt the roads in France or Germany or anywhere else on the condiment ? Ted
theres a shortage of gritter lorry drivers in europe .. most countries in europe have plenty of vehicles in their fleets but can never get enough men to cruet
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Yes. We know. We're trying to ignore it. ;>)
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Some gritter drivers aren't worth their salt.
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Yes. We know. We're trying to ignore it. ;>)
calm down dear
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One did me on the M3 a few years ago. Lump of grit punctured the radiator on my old Nissan coupe and I removed it, sent it to the council in a huff demanding compensation etc etc. Needless to say they took no notice whatsoever of me. Now I avoid gritters at all costs.
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I assume the gritters manage to stay on the road as they put their new tyres on the back.....
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