Motorists' winter warning

Motorists were today urged to play their part by driving safely in wintry conditions, as this year’s winter service operation was launched.

Every night from November to March a fleet of 140 gritters and drivers will be on standby to salt over 4,300 miles of roads across Northern Ireland in just over three hours catering for 80% of traffic.

A DRD Roads Service spokesperson said: "The salting operations are vital in order to keep main road traffic moving in wintry conditions and in line with the procedures agreed by the Assembly, £5 million is set aside for this vital work.

"The best advice for motorists is included in the Highway Code - drive with care even if roads have been salted, be prepared for road conditions changing over short distances and take care when overtaking gritters."

On average there are around 65 call outs each year costing a staggering £78,000 every time Roads Service salt the network.

Engineers use state of the art technology to assist with the operation including ice sensors linked to 16 weather stations across Northern Ireland, installed in conjunction with the Meteorological Office, and thermal mapping of all roads on the network.

The Met Office uses information from the stations along with their own data to provide forecasts, which are transmitted to engineers’ computers.

The DRD spokesperson added: "Despite the high quality of the salting operation, ice-free roads cannot be guaranteed. The Met Office can only guarantee 80% accuracy and it takes three hours to salt a route - so your journey could start or end on an untreated section."

During long periods of heavy snowfall maximum effort will be concentrated on the key traffic routes. Clearing snow from motorways and the trunk roads will be given priority before moving to ‘A’ class roads and the busiest urban link roads.

Once these main routes are open to traffic, Roads Service’s resources will be diverted to the less heavily trafficked roads, especially in urban areas, and will continue until all roads are cleared. Contractors and farmers will also be employed to clear blocked roads.

(MB)