Lancashire County Council starts gritting for winter

With Lancashire County Council taking its army of gritters on the streets, personal injury solicitors Rochdale are asking people to take care when out and about on the roads and to look out for hazardous road conditions such as black ice.

Frost has already fallen across Rochdale and the next few days are predicted to bring additional adverse weather conditions, including sleet, ice, snow and rain. These raise the likelihood of black ice developing in certain areas.

Black ice forms when rain lands on frozen surfacessuch as frost or snow, and can create patches in the road with particularly low friction. This means that cars cannot steer or gain traction and can skid and crash.

The county council has a total of 49 gritters on its frontline, which it will use to treat 1,500 miles of priority roadway. Doing so takes around four hours, although adverse weather conditions can lengthen this time. No win no fee solicitors Rochdale warn that roads that have already been gritted can still be icy, especially on turns or underneath low-hanging branches. Drivers must take additional care when driving on all roads during icy weather conditions, even if the road surface has already been gritted.

Gritters began treating Lancashire's roads at 7am on the morning of November 19^th and a team of gritters will be on standby due to the changeable weather conditions. They will focus on the priority routes in the county, which will likely lead to the roads outside many people's houses remaining ungritted.

 

People should prepare their cars for the cold weather by ensuring that their oil, windscreen fluid and radiators are properly filled and their tyres are inflated. It is also a good idea to keep a first aid kit and emergency supplies in the car, such as a blanket, food, a torch and a mobile phone.

Personal injury compensation claims solicitors Rochdale advise drivers to check the council's social media pages for information about the weather. These can be found at the #lancswinter hashtag, or at 

www.facebook.com/lancashirecc, 
www.twitter.com/lancashirecc 
www.lancashire.gov.uk/winter. 

These feeds will be updated when the local authority sends its gritters out.