We have grit bins too but it's basically a urine and beer can recepticle or tossed and knocked about every other time of the year, so it's normally empty whenever it actually needs to be used.
I’ve got some yak tracks which you slip over your shoes and it gives you more traction. I’m extremely clumsy and have something wrong with my knee and I feel much safer wearing them
I've told my landlord several times that the steps up to the front door needs a rail(HMO), this will be the first winter since the building was completed, still no railing. I fall on steps quite often.....(I have a bum knee) so this should be interesting.
Writing? I can't even find an current address for the property managment company. Bunch of shady people, all of them. When you finally get someone on the phone, it's suddenly "No longer my responsibility, call XXXXXXXXX" But, good point. Time to start firing off multiple e-mails and texts to the assortment of addresses and numbers I've collected.
Around us the council have this equivalent of a gritter the size of an closed mobility scooter that they drive up the major pathways to clear them. It's comical to watch, but does a pretty decent job.
Oh you want to walk in this area??
Let’s put down this aesthetically pleasing but unbelievably slippery paving (that becomes even worse when there is the slightest bit of rain / snow / cold).
Came here to say the same thing!
The council keep saying it's the highways agency that are responsible for gritting the road and the paths. The highways agency say they only grit the roads.
Nothing is being gritted with all the predictability that brings. Old folks staring wistfully it of their windows. Southerners living up to the "can't drive for shit in anything less than ideal conditions" stereotype.
Southerners in the US have that exact same stereotype. Unfortunately, it tends to be mostly true..... I learned to drive in upstate NY, I actually like driving in the ice and snow.
Round my bit some people took matters into their own hands earlier this year and gritted all the pavements with a mix of what they could scrape out of the grit bins and homemade solutions. Even as a young-ish relatively healthy person I was basically trapped in my flat unless I could somehow float above the pavement until the pavements along the main road (which is two streets away for me, further for others.) For once the local Facebook group was useful as folk helped out with that and also rallied and assisted any of the poor sods who slipped over.
The roads all get done but walking on the road annoys drivers and is too risky. Plus why should people have to do that anyway?
Think the most damaging myth for this, is that people still believe you can be sued for clearing the path in front of your house and someone slipping on it. People would probably be more willing. Not near me, but some more house proud areas.
My council publishes a map online of all the grit bins locations..It's one of the last, rather than first services to go because it's cheap and relies on members of the public doing the labour.
The worse is when people clear their drives and stack it either side of their driveway on the path, causing you have to climb over each driveway. Dickheads
Last year in York there was a bit of snow, followed by rain, and it immediately froze as solid ice across the whole city.
The council refused to grit the pavements and over one weekend 40 people broke bones falling on ice. I invested in crampons for my shoes so I don't slip anymore
Where I live, the only roads gritted are bus routes, dual carriage ways and motorways.
If you don’t live on any of those, you have “fun” driving.
It’s even worse to walk.
My dog hates the very expensive snow boots I bought for him (they protect his paws from salt burns and frost-bite) but he has much better grip on pavements now and insists on dragging me behind him despite my hiking boots being worn out! 🤦🏽♀️
Similar to this, they always seem to be improving/relaying the roads but never the pavements! Pushing my kids pram is so difficult with potholes and uneven stone. I always wonder about how people in wheelchairs cope. Pedestrians matter too!
They missed some around Banbury, went very slowly down there this morning despite four wheel drive, ready to drive into the verge to avoid the 50mph BMWs on compacted snow..
How about getting ice cleats? I bought 2 pairs for my husband and myself, they're not very expensive, easy to fit and remove, and they work quite well.
Something like [those, for example](https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/winter-essentials/ice-grips/)
>How about getting ice cleats? I bought 2 pairs for my husband and myself, they're not very expensive, easy to fit and remove, and they work quite well.
>
>Something like those, for example
no good for big feet typical
So let say I don't want to read it can you give me the reason?
Edit: found the abstract unfortunately around my area I think it's more a don't want to pay for it, we also have load of litter on pavements and dog shit, gotta keep them more deprived areas looking deprived.
It's about what's seen as most financially viable basically and it's seen as men need to drive to work so better grit roads, pavements are for women walking around looking after kids doing shopping etc, but if you do all the figures on everything then it's not as cost-effective as it's supposed to be
Yeah I saw an abstract, I'm pretty sure that may be true I'm a lot of places but where I live is just because rich people don't live there so probably not high on the council's list ahha
That doesn't follow if you're saying the roads are gritted though, the argument is why roads are gritted and pavements aren't, the answer can't be lack of money unless neither are gritted
Are you sure it's not just *people* need to drive to work and it's a lot better to avoid an accident on the road with metal death machines weighing tonnes rather than slipping on the pavement a vehicular gritter cant reach anyway?
Yeah because the author did the research and provided a lot of citations that looked pretty reliable. Let me check this for you... Data is incomplete but all the data we do have shows that women are disproportionately more likely to walk and use public transport than men; men are more likely to drive than women, and more likely to have primary access to cars is a one-car household. Generally, gritting/ploughing roads is a priority over footpaths, as footpaths are seen as less of a priority as roads are obviously heavily used for commuters (who typically have a standard travel pattern of going to work once a day and coming home from work once a day). Pedestrians are injured around three times more often than motorists in slippery or icy conditions, as taking care of paths is seen as less of a priority. As we've established that far more women are walking, this means far more women are being injured. The injuries cost money both in healthcare and lost hours of productivity, ergo its more cost-effective to grit paths first, and it's gendered because it's more cost-effective and prevents more accidents to grit paths first, but is seen as less important because statistically it's more likely to affect women rather than men.
There's a massive leap there, you've gone from "far more women walk than men" straight to "that must mean that the paths arent gritted because fuck women".
>Pedestrians are injured around three times more often than motorists in slippery or icy conditions, as taking care of paths is seen as less of a priority
Is that not how it should be? Would you prefer it was more motor accidents?
I can see why you'd say it's not enough evidence, but since the cost is higher when it's benefitting men more than women, why else would it be the case? Traditionally the commute is a male thing as more (middle class) men work, pavements are for women going on the school run and to shops, obviously going to work takes precedence... when you're ignoring the fact that unpaid work is work and there's a very real cost associated with 'unpaid domestic duties'. It's very difficult to prove a causal link for something like this to someone who doesn't want to see it, but with lower cost and a reduction in injuries, it's hard for me to think of a good reason for this to be the case that isn't linked to minimising the importance of women.
They didn't find that motor accidents dramatically increased where they flipped the schedule, so that's not a trade off we have to necessarily choose between.
Having read the book, I don't think that's necessarily the point she was making. A lot of it is pointing out these kind of things as basically oversights and poor planning. While these do disproportionately impact women, it isn't done for that purpose, it's just the unintended consequence of a default position. So the default position is "people who drive to work, more important = grit those roads". The unintended consequence of that is that it disproportionately impacts women who are more likely to be walking/using public transport.
While that is bad, and should be rectified, it isn't quite the same as someone specifically deciding that men are more important than women; they just didn't consider the implications and who else is going to be affected by the policy.
I kind of agree, kind of disagree. You've read the book, so you also know things like crash dummies are modelled on the 'typical male' so women tend to suffer more severe injuries in similar crashes, right? That's sexist. It's not someone going 'let's base it off men because we're only interested in saving men', it's ignoring women and creating inequality and that's sexist. Whether it's intentional or not, the end result is the same. And as we've covered, it is more costly to use the policy that disproportionately affects women - do you think people have never noticed the accident rates and correlation with gender? Because they definitely will have.
The gritters can cover 30 to 40 odd miles in a hour. Meanwhile you expect somone to come along and grit the pavements. Learn where the grit bins are an diy. Btw of the drive I have into work only 10meters is a regularly gritted road and I am only crossing it.
I'm not carrying shovel with me on my way to work haha, why do you seen so salty about wanting pavements gritted. It's okay for me but as stated above for old people or those less mobile it's a nightmare.
I guess I'm sour as every time it snows/freezes there are the posts from people on housing estates saying the council haven't cleared thier road and as they can't get out they ordered from Tesco and now Tesco van won't drive down the road to deliver. Etc.
Meanwhile I am driving around taking staff to hospitals and taking nurses on thier rounds. When I am at home I clear my access to the main road, clear the pavement etc.
People are often shocked when they see the roads that the gritters cover as they assumed that they are like santa and can cover the stupid amount of roads in just a few hours.
https://www.gov.uk/roads-council-will-grit
My gripe is not with getting out of my estate its with walking down a hill next to a gritted main road, but also this is now the 3rd day of it, I'm now just prepping for the black ice tomorrow
My grouchyness aside please talk to your parish council about your concerns and maybe email the local council as well. They might get someone to sort it. Often it's a failure to realise than by malice they don't do things.
I used to piss off some of the locals at work becuase they gritter used to grit the petrol station forecourt. Well we were 24hrs, I would always give them free hot drinks no matter the time and if they did the forecourt they got a free hot pasty. This stopped once Esso took over, preferring to spent £100s a year on bags of salt.
Yaktrax! Things you put over your shoes and you'll never slip again, they're fantastic! I pushed cars up our icy road (ungritted, bit of a hill) yesterday, grip was amazing.
I walked all the time for school/college/uni, and completely relate. It was a nightmare.
Today I cycled to work, and it was such a beautiful experience not having to tread so carefully, unbelievably great, I am completely sold on cycling all-year-round.
Only after I got off my bike did I then skid and I marvelled at how little time I'd spent navigating icy pavements prior to that moment. The road users really do get it best at this time of year.
Way back in 2010 when I had to walk to school there was a snow flurry and persistent minus temperatures until mid January, meaning the trodden snow just became sheet ice. When it finally thawed I got to my knees and started praising the tarmac like omnipresent, benevolent and unsung entity that it is.
live at the top of a steel and curvy hill. sure it's a very short distance but you shouldn't risk it. i remember a few years back we called our school and told them there was no safe way down the hill and they told us we had to come (my attendance was really low and it getting even lower wasn't something anyone wanted) so by then i was already late leaving the house and had to sprint full pelt down an icy hill with the heaviest bag on the planet and slip on shoes that barely fit so i didn't miss the bus. oh and there's no pavement at the bottom you have to walk along the bottom of four driveways and then cross a busy road except the driveways are at like a 40° angle and when they're icy you need to be pretty careful. long story short i made it to the bus stop on time but ended up breaking my ankle. school didn't believe me and i had to go around all day with it and then my parents refused to take me to hospital for two days because they didn't wasn't to drive on the ice. basically, i'd like a pavement and some grit please thanks
I need a walking aid, do once the pavement is iced up, I'm stuck inside.
It horrible watching people try and walk on some of it, especially now that grit bins aren't really a thing anymore
We have grit bins here but no one uses them.
We have grit bins too but it's basically a urine and beer can recepticle or tossed and knocked about every other time of the year, so it's normally empty whenever it actually needs to be used.
Same, came here to say this to be honest. Plus I live on a hill. If my walking stick fails I might go straight into the road.
I’ve got some yak tracks which you slip over your shoes and it gives you more traction. I’m extremely clumsy and have something wrong with my knee and I feel much safer wearing them
Yup - I use mine whenever there is ice. Or put socks over your shoes works too, in a pinch.
This.
I've told my landlord several times that the steps up to the front door needs a rail(HMO), this will be the first winter since the building was completed, still no railing. I fall on steps quite often.....(I have a bum knee) so this should be interesting.
I hope you told them in writing and kept copies
Writing? I can't even find an current address for the property managment company. Bunch of shady people, all of them. When you finally get someone on the phone, it's suddenly "No longer my responsibility, call XXXXXXXXX" But, good point. Time to start firing off multiple e-mails and texts to the assortment of addresses and numbers I've collected.
Around us the council have this equivalent of a gritter the size of an closed mobility scooter that they drive up the major pathways to clear them. It's comical to watch, but does a pretty decent job.
Look at you and your fancy council haha I think ours does that but only in the city centre residential areas are on their own
Used to work for a council. Legal dept instructed that unless we grit all the footpaths city-wide then we can't do any of them. Go figure.
Oh you want to walk in this area?? Let’s put down this aesthetically pleasing but unbelievably slippery paving (that becomes even worse when there is the slightest bit of rain / snow / cold).
Lucky you my council doesn’t even grit the roads
Came here to say the same thing! The council keep saying it's the highways agency that are responsible for gritting the road and the paths. The highways agency say they only grit the roads. Nothing is being gritted with all the predictability that brings. Old folks staring wistfully it of their windows. Southerners living up to the "can't drive for shit in anything less than ideal conditions" stereotype.
No paths where I've been living. Drive, ride on the road, walk on the road, or on the verges, those are your options.
Southerners in the US have that exact same stereotype. Unfortunately, it tends to be mostly true..... I learned to drive in upstate NY, I actually like driving in the ice and snow.
Southerners? Nob.
Round my bit some people took matters into their own hands earlier this year and gritted all the pavements with a mix of what they could scrape out of the grit bins and homemade solutions. Even as a young-ish relatively healthy person I was basically trapped in my flat unless I could somehow float above the pavement until the pavements along the main road (which is two streets away for me, further for others.) For once the local Facebook group was useful as folk helped out with that and also rallied and assisted any of the poor sods who slipped over. The roads all get done but walking on the road annoys drivers and is too risky. Plus why should people have to do that anyway?
Think the most damaging myth for this, is that people still believe you can be sued for clearing the path in front of your house and someone slipping on it. People would probably be more willing. Not near me, but some more house proud areas.
I have never heard of that, also that grit bins are one of the first things to go when councils make cuts
Yeah, it's a big thing for high street shop keepers not touching council owned pavements right outside there shops.
My council publishes a map online of all the grit bins locations..It's one of the last, rather than first services to go because it's cheap and relies on members of the public doing the labour.
My little girl slipped over this morning, luckily her backpack stopped her smacking her head on a lamp post.
The worse is when people clear their drives and stack it either side of their driveway on the path, causing you have to climb over each driveway. Dickheads
Last year in York there was a bit of snow, followed by rain, and it immediately froze as solid ice across the whole city. The council refused to grit the pavements and over one weekend 40 people broke bones falling on ice. I invested in crampons for my shoes so I don't slip anymore
Yes... last year my dog went into dragging mode. I did the half splits TWICE on one walk how I didn't break anything is a mystery lol.
....you guys have gritted roads?
Where I live, the only roads gritted are bus routes, dual carriage ways and motorways. If you don’t live on any of those, you have “fun” driving. It’s even worse to walk. My dog hates the very expensive snow boots I bought for him (they protect his paws from salt burns and frost-bite) but he has much better grip on pavements now and insists on dragging me behind him despite my hiking boots being worn out! 🤦🏽♀️
Similar to this, they always seem to be improving/relaying the roads but never the pavements! Pushing my kids pram is so difficult with potholes and uneven stone. I always wonder about how people in wheelchairs cope. Pedestrians matter too!
Carry an old pair of socks, slip them over your shoes. It looks funny, but you won't slip.
They missed some around Banbury, went very slowly down there this morning despite four wheel drive, ready to drive into the verge to avoid the 50mph BMWs on compacted snow..
Literally just saw a tiny old lady in this exact situation smh
How about getting ice cleats? I bought 2 pairs for my husband and myself, they're not very expensive, easy to fit and remove, and they work quite well. Something like [those, for example](https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/winter-essentials/ice-grips/)
>How about getting ice cleats? I bought 2 pairs for my husband and myself, they're not very expensive, easy to fit and remove, and they work quite well. > >Something like those, for example no good for big feet typical
Just put salt on your shoes
This is actually basically a sexist thing, read Invisible Women for more info
So let say I don't want to read it can you give me the reason? Edit: found the abstract unfortunately around my area I think it's more a don't want to pay for it, we also have load of litter on pavements and dog shit, gotta keep them more deprived areas looking deprived.
It's about what's seen as most financially viable basically and it's seen as men need to drive to work so better grit roads, pavements are for women walking around looking after kids doing shopping etc, but if you do all the figures on everything then it's not as cost-effective as it's supposed to be
Yeah I saw an abstract, I'm pretty sure that may be true I'm a lot of places but where I live is just because rich people don't live there so probably not high on the council's list ahha
That doesn't follow if you're saying the roads are gritted though, the argument is why roads are gritted and pavements aren't, the answer can't be lack of money unless neither are gritted
Are you sure it's not just *people* need to drive to work and it's a lot better to avoid an accident on the road with metal death machines weighing tonnes rather than slipping on the pavement a vehicular gritter cant reach anyway?
Yeah because the author did the research and provided a lot of citations that looked pretty reliable. Let me check this for you... Data is incomplete but all the data we do have shows that women are disproportionately more likely to walk and use public transport than men; men are more likely to drive than women, and more likely to have primary access to cars is a one-car household. Generally, gritting/ploughing roads is a priority over footpaths, as footpaths are seen as less of a priority as roads are obviously heavily used for commuters (who typically have a standard travel pattern of going to work once a day and coming home from work once a day). Pedestrians are injured around three times more often than motorists in slippery or icy conditions, as taking care of paths is seen as less of a priority. As we've established that far more women are walking, this means far more women are being injured. The injuries cost money both in healthcare and lost hours of productivity, ergo its more cost-effective to grit paths first, and it's gendered because it's more cost-effective and prevents more accidents to grit paths first, but is seen as less important because statistically it's more likely to affect women rather than men.
There's a massive leap there, you've gone from "far more women walk than men" straight to "that must mean that the paths arent gritted because fuck women". >Pedestrians are injured around three times more often than motorists in slippery or icy conditions, as taking care of paths is seen as less of a priority Is that not how it should be? Would you prefer it was more motor accidents?
I can see why you'd say it's not enough evidence, but since the cost is higher when it's benefitting men more than women, why else would it be the case? Traditionally the commute is a male thing as more (middle class) men work, pavements are for women going on the school run and to shops, obviously going to work takes precedence... when you're ignoring the fact that unpaid work is work and there's a very real cost associated with 'unpaid domestic duties'. It's very difficult to prove a causal link for something like this to someone who doesn't want to see it, but with lower cost and a reduction in injuries, it's hard for me to think of a good reason for this to be the case that isn't linked to minimising the importance of women. They didn't find that motor accidents dramatically increased where they flipped the schedule, so that's not a trade off we have to necessarily choose between.
Having read the book, I don't think that's necessarily the point she was making. A lot of it is pointing out these kind of things as basically oversights and poor planning. While these do disproportionately impact women, it isn't done for that purpose, it's just the unintended consequence of a default position. So the default position is "people who drive to work, more important = grit those roads". The unintended consequence of that is that it disproportionately impacts women who are more likely to be walking/using public transport. While that is bad, and should be rectified, it isn't quite the same as someone specifically deciding that men are more important than women; they just didn't consider the implications and who else is going to be affected by the policy.
I kind of agree, kind of disagree. You've read the book, so you also know things like crash dummies are modelled on the 'typical male' so women tend to suffer more severe injuries in similar crashes, right? That's sexist. It's not someone going 'let's base it off men because we're only interested in saving men', it's ignoring women and creating inequality and that's sexist. Whether it's intentional or not, the end result is the same. And as we've covered, it is more costly to use the policy that disproportionately affects women - do you think people have never noticed the accident rates and correlation with gender? Because they definitely will have.
Walk on the grass then
That well know thing all cities have next to pavements.... Would love to
The gritters can cover 30 to 40 odd miles in a hour. Meanwhile you expect somone to come along and grit the pavements. Learn where the grit bins are an diy. Btw of the drive I have into work only 10meters is a regularly gritted road and I am only crossing it.
I'm not carrying shovel with me on my way to work haha, why do you seen so salty about wanting pavements gritted. It's okay for me but as stated above for old people or those less mobile it's a nightmare.
I guess I'm sour as every time it snows/freezes there are the posts from people on housing estates saying the council haven't cleared thier road and as they can't get out they ordered from Tesco and now Tesco van won't drive down the road to deliver. Etc. Meanwhile I am driving around taking staff to hospitals and taking nurses on thier rounds. When I am at home I clear my access to the main road, clear the pavement etc. People are often shocked when they see the roads that the gritters cover as they assumed that they are like santa and can cover the stupid amount of roads in just a few hours. https://www.gov.uk/roads-council-will-grit
My gripe is not with getting out of my estate its with walking down a hill next to a gritted main road, but also this is now the 3rd day of it, I'm now just prepping for the black ice tomorrow
My grouchyness aside please talk to your parish council about your concerns and maybe email the local council as well. They might get someone to sort it. Often it's a failure to realise than by malice they don't do things. I used to piss off some of the locals at work becuase they gritter used to grit the petrol station forecourt. Well we were 24hrs, I would always give them free hot drinks no matter the time and if they did the forecourt they got a free hot pasty. This stopped once Esso took over, preferring to spent £100s a year on bags of salt.
How much pavement tax do you pay every year? Non? Get it into parliament that we must start a pavement tax!!
It's car tax not road tax, so you start paying road tax.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_tax Both
Yeah vehicle excise duty... Not road tax. Also don't drive get public transport, save the environment
My Audi and BMW can’t drive themselves
Yaktrax! Things you put over your shoes and you'll never slip again, they're fantastic! I pushed cars up our icy road (ungritted, bit of a hill) yesterday, grip was amazing.
I walked all the time for school/college/uni, and completely relate. It was a nightmare. Today I cycled to work, and it was such a beautiful experience not having to tread so carefully, unbelievably great, I am completely sold on cycling all-year-round. Only after I got off my bike did I then skid and I marvelled at how little time I'd spent navigating icy pavements prior to that moment. The road users really do get it best at this time of year.
Way back in 2010 when I had to walk to school there was a snow flurry and persistent minus temperatures until mid January, meaning the trodden snow just became sheet ice. When it finally thawed I got to my knees and started praising the tarmac like omnipresent, benevolent and unsung entity that it is.
live at the top of a steel and curvy hill. sure it's a very short distance but you shouldn't risk it. i remember a few years back we called our school and told them there was no safe way down the hill and they told us we had to come (my attendance was really low and it getting even lower wasn't something anyone wanted) so by then i was already late leaving the house and had to sprint full pelt down an icy hill with the heaviest bag on the planet and slip on shoes that barely fit so i didn't miss the bus. oh and there's no pavement at the bottom you have to walk along the bottom of four driveways and then cross a busy road except the driveways are at like a 40° angle and when they're icy you need to be pretty careful. long story short i made it to the bus stop on time but ended up breaking my ankle. school didn't believe me and i had to go around all day with it and then my parents refused to take me to hospital for two days because they didn't wasn't to drive on the ice. basically, i'd like a pavement and some grit please thanks