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Ice chaos on county roads
Tuesday 1st December 2009, 12:30PM GMT.
Freezing temperatures caused rush hour chaos in Shropshire this morning with part of the county’s only motorway closed because of “treacherous road conditions”.
Crashes on the M54 led to part of the westbound carriageway being closed. The decision was taken after patches of ice formed overnight as temperatures fell to minus 5C.
The first smash happened just before 5am on the eastbound carriageway, heading towards Wolverhampton, near the Telford Central Interchange.
A man in his 50s was taken to the town’s Princess Royal Hospital with neck injuries after his car turned over on the slippery road surface.
This was followed by a collision involving several vehicles just before 7am caused by freezing water on the surface of the motorway which had overflowed from a balancing pool in the centre of the roundabout above the road.
The westbound lane, heading towards Shrewsbury, was then closed and traffic was diverted off at Junction 6 at Ketley before rejoining at the same junction at the other side of the island.
Collision
It caused major tailbacks during rush hour and the motorway was fully reopened at about 9.30am.
Chris Ammonds, of Telford police, said conditions had been “extremely treacherous”.
A spokesman for Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said the freezing water had collected directly underneath the Junction 6 roundabout.
Traffic was also disrupted when two cars were involved in a collision on an icy stretch of the A5 near the Preston Island, near Shrewsbury.
One vehicle left the road, but the other remained on the road causing long tailbacks for motorists heading eastbound.
There were also collisions on the A483 in Oswestry, near the orthopaedic hospital, and at Hodnet, near Market Drayton.
A spokesman for Shropshire Council said 40 tonnes of grit had been spread on roads across the county overnight and the highways department was continuing to monitor conditions throughout this morning.
By Brett Gibbons
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And where were the gritters? I don’t know if the motorway would be gritted anyway (probably not) but the roads that used to be gritted when the council was Shrewsbruy and Atcham seem to have been forgotten about by our new council. It’s not as if the frost wasn’t forecast.
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It is not ice chaos on the roads – it’s bad driving on the roads in the first wintery conditions this winter.
People will not take care or consider the conditions, hence the accidents this morning.
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Agree with what KB said above.
Where were the gritters??
It was forecast and the council should have used a little common sense in treating a main route.
Damp weather + cold temperatures + clear skies + rural open areas
Its not rocket science.
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…Where were the gritters?
Probably in their garages after a long hard night gritting… and chipping my windscreen! The motorway is not Telford councils responsibility… thats up to the highways agencys to sort out!
The rest of the roads around Telford were fine…
Got to Shrewsbury this morning only to see the roads hadn’t been gritted and there was a car convinently park backwards in the hedge just off the roundabout at the end of the A5… Great Sucess!
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What ice? In winter?
How can people get ‘caught out’?
Muppets
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By the sound of it, gritting could not have prevented this from happening. Gritting helps to prevent frost and light snow from causing problems. Significant quantites of water, especially those that could have also washed grit away first, will be able to freeze and cause trouble if the road is gritted or not.
the problem here is all the rain we’ve had just prior to the freexing conditions. Any problem with the council/highways agency lies with the fact that the water from this balancing pool was allowed to get onto the motorway and no extra measures were taken until it was too late.
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I didn’t think the M54 would be up to the council to sort, hence my (probably not), but certainly the roads south of Shrewsbury where I was this morning hadn’t been gritted. Can I come to Telford and have some of your grit, PB?
And yes, I was driving very carefully as I know the roads well and expect ice on them if cold weather is forecast, but last year they were being gritted to death at the first hint of a frost.
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Spreading grit on the road doesn’t really help. However, spreading salt does. Not really sure why they are called gritters!
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Well, you know what I mean! Salters doesn’t have the same ring to it.
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@Big E: ‘Cos Salters make scales, which would be even more confusing :-p
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The ice was caused by flood water spilling on to the M/way. No amount of gritting would have prevented that from freezing at -5 as salt merely lowers the freezing tempreture depending on the strength of the solution, rather then totally preventing freezing.
Its called grit because it is crushed rock salt that is spread.
Here endeth the lesson.
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And this morning, on a nice balmy (well, almost) 5 degree morning, the gritters were out.
I wasn’t suggesting that gritters could have prevented the M54 accident, more commenting on the fact that roads that would normally be salted to within an inch of their lives at the slightest sign of a cold morning hadn’t had a gritter near them.
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Just thought i’d say that on monday night and last night the gritters were out in force. As vinnie said, there are certain situations where the grit/salt can be largely inaffective. All the misinformed moaning helps though. However, I agree that people need to take responsibility when driving in bad conditions.
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Lucy W … Thank you for the incorrect lesson!
“Its called grit because it is crushed rock salt that is spread.”
AFRAID NOT!
Grit is the chippings that they mix with the salt to aid traction when there is snow on the road whilst the salt takes time to melt the snow!
What happens when there is a frost but no snow is called salting (gritting is when there is snow!)
There is very little point in putting salt on a dry road as there is nothing to freeze on a dry surface!
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Very strange comment from KB. SABC haven’t been responsible for the highways which of course includes gritting/salting for about 9 years now. I think you ought to have some idea of the facts before you post a comment.
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IB – couldnt agree more!! LOL!
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