Why can't we cope?

[youngmafbog]

After all it is not as if we don't get the practice.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4682168/snow-fall-causes-travel-chaos-across-britain.html

[emmie]

because it doesn't happen that much in reality. Perhaps it does in some parts of the Highlands of Scotland, if we had weather that was a lot more wintry for a good deal longer, then i think the powers that be would have to have a totally different outlook, plan. Two winters ago i believe, Boris Johnson decided to shut the entire London bus network down, only for a day, but it was completely unnecessary.

[sandyRoe]

Could it be the wrong kind of snow? Not long ago the wrong kind of leaves could cause autumnal problems on railway lines.

[emmie]

perhaps it is because we are useless.

[FredPuli43]

Because the capital outlay doesn't justify the expense. That's why Surrey,Canada has more purpose -built snow ploughs than not just Surrey, UK, but England, UK. When Winter starts in November and lasts to March, and low temperatures are so common that the schoolchildren aren't allowed inside at breaks unless the temperature is below -15 Celsius, you find it worthwhile to have the means of dealing with snow. We don't.

[andy-hughes]

Britain is cursed with an unpredictable climate that makes advance planning for adverse weather impossible.

Councils cannot buy in huge stocks of rock salt and have gritters and crews on 24-hour standby for snowfalls that simply may not appear.

That means that we are forced to play catch-up, and the chaos comes every year.

As advised, other countries that can be assured of long-lasting snow and ice can prepare and be ready, but that simply can't happen here.

I fully accept that every year the media behaves as if snow is something from Mars we have never seen before, but what really gets my goat is the way they always send some poor sap out to do a piece to camera in the middle of a blizzard.

IT'S OK - I WAS AROUND IN 1963, I KNOW WHAT SNOW LOOKS LIKE!!!! JUST TELL ME WHERE IT'S COMING NEXT, AND I'LL WORK OUT THE VIEW FROM MY WINDOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[emmie]

we had some extremely bad winters when i was a kid, and my mum has mentioned some they had, how on earth did they cope. well they did, but then again air travel was almost unheard of then, except for the war planes of course.

[LyndaB]

But that's just it - we don't get the practice. Countries which have regular, heavy snowfall year after year cope because they know what to expect, and they spend lots and lots of money on keeping their roads clear. I don't think we can justify spending millions on something that 'might' happen.

[emmie]

problem occurs though when they are caught out, long range weather forecasts say snow, but somehow the local authorities don't seem to take much notice. Then the fallout is people getting hurt, either in car accidents or falling on icy roads, pavements. I wonder what it costs overall in compensation to people who are hurt in this way.
I would add that our council hasn't bothered to clear up much of the leaves, leaving sludge everywhere, dangerous as ice i can tell you.

[Haggisdj]

How did we ever know it was snowing in the days before Facebook?

[emmie]

we looked out the window, the same way we know its pizzing down

[pdq1]

This mornings jam had a queue of about 20 miles leading up to the M25. Caused by a driver having an accident on the slip road blocking it for other motorists to use. If they could clear these accidents a bit quicker the holdup wouldn't have occurred

[EDDIE51]

As has been said, in reality we have snow problems for on average about 5 days a year. We just can't afford to spend £millions on measures to cope with the odd day a few times a year.
There is some incompetence though , I remember a few years back there was 2" of snow and the rail system near me just stopped working . I know a supervisor and he told me that the reason was that the man who was supposed to order the gas for the points heaters was on sick leave and no one thought to check that it had been ordered . There was no gas to run the heaters so the points froze and all trains were cancelled.