Chaos in French Alps after predictable arrival of winter holidays coincides with late delivery of a bulk consignment of snow.
www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/28/snow-ice-thousands-stranded-french-alps
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Well the report I read said.
The roads were very very busy with traffic all en route to the ski resorts when the heavy snow arrived.
Hence how could the snow ploughs work in heavy traffic.
Just s*ds law ?
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>> Well the report I read said.
>> The roads were very very busy with traffic all en route to the ski resorts
>> when the heavy snow arrived.
>> Hence how could the snow ploughs work in heavy traffic.
>> Just s*ds law ?
Yep, exactly what happened here a few years ago. In that case a well forecast change from rain to snow began around 15:00 and a lot of employers told their workforce to buzz off early. Consequently, as fast as the snow fell it was compressed by the already jammed traffic.
No opportunity to grit earlier - it would have been washed off by the rain. Gritters and ploughs were stuck in jams with everyone else.
The fact that a large percentage of the southern English haven't the foggiest about driving on snow and wheelspin/slither all over road only made it worse.
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Yep, exactly what happened here a few years ago. In that case a well forecast change from rain to snow began around 15:00 and a lot of employers told their workforce to buzz off early. Consequently, as fast as the snow fell it was compressed by the already jammed traffic.
Oh yes, by the time I could leave work, the roads were silly. Eventually left at eight and it took me four hours to do roughly 21 miles. Mind you, an hour of that was my fault, I should have made the illegal U turn that would have got me onto M1 with no further hassle.
Following morning was horrid as well, snowfall had turned to hard ice and I could have put a taxi drivers lights out as he was braking ok, but stopping others from doing so as the rear wheels were spinning and polishing the ice behind him.
I was one of the few at work, but with a parking space and a Defender, I guess folk expected me to make it.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Mon 29 Dec 14 at 14:23
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>> Oh yes, by the time I could leave work, the roads were silly. Eventually left
>> at eight and it took me four hours to do roughly 21 miles.
Virgin trains got me to Milton Keynes bang on time. It then took an hour to get from the commuter car park opposite Santander to Portway roundabout on the A5. For those who don't know the area that's less than a mile.
Having being brought up around the 600ft contour on edge of the Dales I'd driven in snow from 17. Just let the Xantia trickle along on idle in either first or second avoidnig the brakes as far as possible. Other folks were spinning and sliding all over the place.
Once on the A5 it was OK, the nearside lane was clear and Northants had ploughed the old B4525 so I could get into village that way. N way was I trying lanes through Pattishall under those conditions......
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 29 Dec 14 at 14:39
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>> Chaos in French Alps after predictable arrival of winter holidays coincides with late delivery of
>> a bulk consignment of snow.
This is simply untrue. According to the UK press ONLY the UK is unprepared for bad weather.
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They went there for snow, didn't they?
Why complain when it appears?
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The French have this strange thing about having to do everything mob-handed. If they normally go to the Alps on the same day each year then that's when they will go - even though there had been a severe weather/snow warning in place for two days before the event. The idea of putting off their departure for just one day simply doesn't occur to them. It's something to do with the French mentality that expects everything to be either done for them by the State or they have to accept their fate. Summer holiday Saturdays are the same - hundreds of kilometres of queues at autoroute peage stations - gleefully reported by the media as breaking new records - then one day later all is quiet. Weird, ou quoi?
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The BBC report on the same subject commented on a 25km queue on the A8 near Stuttgart - unfortunately I was part of that! A journey that normally takes 6 hours became 10. Snow and ice on the carriageway, some blown by the wind, slowed everything down, although the perpetual roadworks on the A8 played their part.
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True not only in the U.K. I'm surprised nobody blamed the chaos not having snow tyres.
Would it have made any difference?
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>> True not only in the U.K. I'm surprised nobody blamed the chaos not having snow
>> tyres.
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>> Would it have made any difference?
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Probably not, didn't help in Germany!
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It's Not Just the UK!!! - henry k
