Don't play the blame game in the snow 19 | 12 | 2010

Scotcars' Alan Douglas was on BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House this morning, speaking about ill-prepared drivers and the snow. At the request of hundreds of people who contacted us, here's the full transcript of Alan's article:

IF I SAID I WAS going out in shorts and T-shirt to climb a mountain when there was a storm forecast, but if I got into trouble someone would rescue me, you’d think I was crazy ... and selfish.

But that’s effectively what hundreds of drivers have been doing in this current spell of Arctic weather. They’ve been taking to the roads ill-prepared and then criticising the authorities for failing to keep the roads open for them.

How many of them have a shovel in the boot, or a bag of grit, or a set of those new tyre snow socks; or a blanket; a pair of gloves or a woolly hat?

Very few I suspect, yet they blindly set off in their low-powered Pandas, Fiestas and Micras to tackle some of the worst conditions we’ve seen since the Sixties. Many get stuck at the first hill or pile of snow, their wheels spinning, blocking the road for others. Even four-wheel-drive vehicles may have the ability, but sadly many of their drivers aren’t equally competent.

And what about the lorry drivers? How many of them carry on regardless in the face of deteriorating weather without any specialist snow equipment, such as tyre chains? How many of the transport companies supply their drivers with winter gear or prepare their vehicles for the extreme conditions? And what are their liabilities under Health and Safety regulations if they don’t?

I’ve driven in northern Sweden in an icy monochrome landscape in minus 25 degrees and the roads weren’t even salted – largely because it’s so cold the salt wouldn’t work – but cars are fitted with studded winter tyres as soon as the first chilly blasts arrive ... because it’s the law. Trucks also use heavy duty winter tyres and carry chains for extra traction, because it’s their responsibility to keep moving.

When I arrived in Sweden, the first thing my hosts from Volvo did was to give me a bag with a survival suit, furry hat, gloves and emergency food supplies in case I got stuck. In those temperatures it wouldn’t just be uncomfortable – I could die.

In this country when the snow arrives we do nothing but blame the Government, the maintenance companies, the police – anyone but ourselves for our lack of foresight. Even the Highway Code – the ‘bible’ of essential reading for every motorist — says nothing about the use of winter tyres and has only three entries on the subject of tyres in general. Yet no matter how good your car is, the tyres are the only things that will keep it on the road ... or moving at all.

We also have to look at our road behaviour.

I’ve seen blatant ignorance of even basic road manners, like failing to give way to vehicles coming uphill in slippery conditions.

At congested roundabouts, the give way to the right rule apparently still applies, even though the exit is blocked by queuing traffic ... stoney-faced drivers using the childlike rule that 'if I don’t acknowledge you, then you don’t exist'.

If we’re to stop this carriageway chaos, we all have to prepare with the right equipment and training, adapt our driving style and attitude … and abandon this assumption that it’s someone else’s responsibility.

Alan Douglas

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