Hampshire Now

Beat the freeze

lady next to car

With summer all but a distant memory, thoughts are now turning to the winter white stuff.  No, not snow, but salt – 13,000 tonnes of it to be exact (and it’s actually more pink than white!)

During the colder months when we’re all snuggled up cosily at home in bed, fleets of lorries will be out on the county’s roads, spreading tonnes of rock salt so that in the morning our roads are less slippery for drivers.

The County Council’s winter maintenance team is responsible for salting 44 ‘priority one’ routes which carry about 85 per cent of Hampshire’s traffic. These days salt pre-wetted with brine is used as it sticks to the road surface more effectively and starts working more quickly.  And as it uses around 30 per cent less salt for each run, it makes it better for the environment too.

So how does the County Council know when to send out the salting lorries?

It’s not just a case of keeping an ear out for the weather forecast - we use the Icelert system. Icelert consists of a number of roadside sensor sites, which monitor road conditions such as air and road surface temperature, wind speed and direction, rainfall, humidity, ice formation and the salinity of the road surface.  The information collected by Icelert is automatically available via computer links to the County Council’s winter maintenance team responsible for triggering a salt run, and the weather forecasters.

Before you set out on the road

Salting doesn’t give road users the green light to drive as they would in ideal conditions though.  Bear the following in mind:

  • Salt works by lowering the freezing point of moisture on the road.  The process is less effective when temperatures are lower than minus five degrees, and it has virtually no effect when the road temperature is minus 10 degrees or lower.

  • Rain can wash salt off the roads and make them prone to re-icing. 

  • A good pointer to the prevailing road conditions is whether or not you need to scrape frost off your windscreen – if you do, then chances are the roads could be slippery and you should drive accordingly.

  • Be patient if you’re behind a salting lorry – keep your distance, overtake only when it’s safe to do so, and continue your journey at an appropriate speed for the conditions

Just as preparation and forward-planning are watchwords for us, so they should be you. Check simple things like:

  • antifreeze and windscreen washer levels

  • how much fuel is in the tank

  • tyre pressures

  • and that you’ve got suitable clothing and footwear – take extra if necessary.

A few minutes spent on common sense checks could make the difference between a comfortable journey and one that you’d rather forget!

Did you know?

The average length of a salting route is 35 miles, with each lorry carrying around five tonnes of salt for each run.  The cost of a complete countywide salt run is £22,000.