Can someone settle an argument, please?
Is the 20 MPH restriction, which is shown on the UK triangular Loose Chippings sign (with red border) advisory or otherwise?
There's little relevant detail in my (out of date) highway code.
Thanks.
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Advisory. It's a warning.
Last edited by: sooty tailpipes on Wed 13 Jun 12 at 14:44
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>> Advisory. It's a warning.
>>
Yep. hang back 50 yards from the car in front . It is your paintwork and windscreen after all.
Common sense, really. If some muppet wants to follow you too closely, that's their problem.
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It isn't just about chips in your paintwork or glass. It takes a while for all the loose chippings to be thrown into the gutters and verges. Until then, they can gather in drifts between the normal wheel tracks on the road. And if you get onto those at any speed, you'd better have your rally-driver's reactions properly honed, because they can be very slippery indeed and can sometimes cause a car to dart off course.
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>> It isn't just about chips in your paintwork or glass. It takes a while for
>> all the loose chippings to be thrown into the gutters and verges. Until then, they
>> can gather in drifts between the normal wheel tracks on the road. And if you
>> get onto those at any speed, you'd better have your rally-driver's reactions properly honed, because
>> they can be very slippery indeed and can sometimes cause a car to dart off
>> course.
>>
Not just that AC but they camouflage pot-holes, which is why I suspect most councils are so keen to use the damn things.
It goes without saying that they're lethal to motorcycles. A back road near me, which I tend to use to return home from work, was "treated" a couple of weeks ago; the recent heavy rain combined with the rather skimpy application of bitumen has conspired to wash about 90% of the chippings down to the bottom of the hill, which incorporates a sharp blind bend. The resultant gravel trap will take a few weeks to disperse into the gutter, so I tend to go the long way home for now.
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>> >> which is why I suspect most councils
>> are so keen to use the damn things.
>>
Also because it saves the cost of rolling it . In the old days they used steam rollers to finish the road surface off properly. Now it's self-service. Next they'll just leave the tarmac in a pile at the side of the road and tell us to bring our own shovels to spread it.
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>> It isn't just about chips in your paintwork or glass. It takes a while for
>> all the loose chippings to be thrown into the gutters and verges. Until then, they
>> can gather in drifts between the normal wheel tracks on the road. And if you
>> get onto those at any speed, you'd better have your rally-driver's reactions properly honed, because
>> they can be very slippery indeed and can sometimes cause a car to dart off
>> course.
>>
Yep, driving round the back of Farnborough somewhere (I was lost at the time...)a couple of weeks back there was a long, winding downhill stretch that had recently been resurfaced, piles of chippings inches deep in places. Lo and behold at the bottom of the hill there was a Clio that had tried to climb a tree. I was a tad nervous as I was driving the company van for the first time, with about 300 grand's worth of gear in the back :-/
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>>advisory or otherwise?
>>Advisory. It's a warning.
>>Yep.
Thought so. Argument settled.
Thanks for the responses.
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The only time I've had a windscreen (toughened glass) broken it was caused by chippings thrown up by a car travelling fast in the opposite direction. It would have happened even if I'd been stationary.
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>> The only time I've had a windscreen (toughened glass) broken it was caused by chippings
>> thrown up by a car travelling fast in the opposite direction. It would have happened
>> even if I'd been stationary.
>>
+1
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>>>it was caused by chippings thrown up by a car travelling fast in the opposite direction<<<
This happened to me last saturday in my van 5.30 in the morning.A road i use everyday to get to a shop to make a delivery had been tar and dressed on the thursday, i just pulled away after making my drop got about 100 yards up the road when a viridor waste lorry (bin cart) drove past me at more than 20mph, heard the ping of a chipping hitting screen next thing there was a big crack just to my right of vision migrating to the edge of the screen.Wished i stayed in bed then i wouldnt of worked for nothing cost me £75 excess on insurance.
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The (small, flat, toughened) windscreen of my Dyane once fell into my lap 30 miles up the M1, in the outside lane of course. I didn't notice any projectile from a car in front. Perhaps there wasn't one. As well as cubes, toughened glass releases when broken tiny splinters hardly bigger than dust, and they can get in your eyes.
It was a bit inconvenient at the time. But replacement was quick, easy and cheap.
On another occasion a van or lorry in front, at some speed, ran over a brick which jumped into the air. I thought it was going to ricochet off the Dyane's sloping bonnet into my face, but it caught and bent the rubber-faced offside bumper overrider, bouncing harmlessly out of the way. That was a frightening half-second or so, still vivid in memory. The Dyane had several scars of which the bent offside overrider was the most honourable.
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Another little problem that can give a scare, like Lud's brick, is when you're following a twin wheeler and notice a brick stuck between the tyres.
Often picked up on a building site, I imagine. That's the time to drop well back or overtake if possible. If it gets thrown out at the right time it can cause a lot of damage.
Ted
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Do we drivers have any redress against the local authority for damaged paintwork? I write as a recent victim.
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No but at least in theory you have redress against a speeding driver who negligently damages your car by spraying it with chippings.
Might be a tad difficult to prove though
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I recall a dark, wet night when I was on a m'bike back in the '60s and in the light of the 6V, candle power headlamp I saw a brick directly in front of me. Too late to avoid, so I decided to hit it square.
It was a ruddy cardboard box!
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>> It was a ruddy cardboard box!
Better than the other way round bt. In my case, bowling through the middle of a very nearby small town at 30mph late one night, saw in a narrow place what I hoped was a cereal packet standing up in the road.
It was a breeze block standing on edge. The Land Rover I was driving tracked straight but bounded horribly into the air on the offside, and the rims (but not tyres thank goodness) were damaged. Bit embarrassing that. But the LR owner let me straighten the rims with a big hammer.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Wed 13 Jun 12 at 23:35
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Just a little humorous anecdote on the subject ~ a friend was out with his family and they came to a section of newly resurfaced road. The driver commented "loose chippings" but his young daughter misheard and said "I can't see any chickens."
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Although the cause of this fatality is still under investigation the news reports focused on the fact the road had just been resurfaced: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-18244760
" Gloucestershire Highways carried out surface dressing on the road some weeks ago but, following the recent hot spell, the surface began to 'sweat' "
Last edited by: Victorbox on Thu 14 Jun 12 at 08:55
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there are quite a few resurfaced roads around my way (hertfordshire).
I notice lots of drivers ignoring the 20mph warnings.
they must be company car owners !
to be fair though, the warning signs are in place for a long time.
Still waiting for the roads to be repainted !
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There are loads of roads round here which have just been done. I don't know why they wait so long between putting down chips, and putting down bitumen.
Unfortunately one part is dual carriageway so even if you go slowly, some berk will hurtle past at high speed, throwing a stream of stones into the side of your car.
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My car was showered with stones when an oncoming driver used a hatched area at a junction to overtake.
I hadn't thought about it before, but obviously lots of gravel collects on hatched areas because they are rarely driven over.
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"I don't know why they wait so long between putting down chips, and putting down bitumen. "
The bitumen is sprayed on the road first surely.
Some useful info about the process
www.whra.org.uk/surface-dressing.pdf
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>> Some useful info about the process
>> www.whra.org.uk/surface-dressing.pdf
"As soon as the bitumen has set, the road is swept to remove any excess chippings." who are they trying to kid?
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"who are they trying to kid?"
No one. Read the next sentence to the one you quote.
"Traffic may be allowed back on the road before the loose chippings are removed, both to reduce congestion and because slow moving vehicles help to embed the chippings.'
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>> No one. Read the next sentence to the one you quote.
>> "Traffic may be allowed back on the road before the loose chippings are removed, both
>> to reduce congestion and because slow moving vehicles help to embed the chippings.'
I did read it and I'd say this was standard practice 90% of the time rather than occasionally to speed traffic flow, and that was the point I was making.....
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>> "As soon as the bitumen has set, the road is swept to remove any excess
>> chippings." who are they trying to kid?
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At our last abode the road was surface dressed. Two days later when the bitumen had set and the excess chippings had gone to the sides of the road, the road was swept by a lorry which sweeps the gutters with a rotating brush. After that operation there were no longer any excess chippings.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 14 Jun 12 at 17:51
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After laying tar and chippings they used to roll it with a steamroller, then later usually with a diesel roller. Now they don't usually even do that.
Why don't we have a big machine like the ones they have in France that lay a smooth 3-inch carpet of lovely rubbery silent road stuff along the many thousands of miles of French A roads? We British are a bit silly in some ways. Quit a lot of ways actually.
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Loose Chippings - 20 MPH - Shiny
