|
eTyres care about our customers. The
following article may be of interest.
Winter Road Maintenance and Road Traffic
Accidents
by Sophie Evans
Winter road maintenance and road traffic accidents
At this time of year driving can become perilous. A
combination of ice, wind, rain, snow, fog and dark,
wintry evenings can lead to hazardous road conditions
and car accidents. When you take your car out on a
wintry morning you are more at risk of being involved in
a car crash than during the light warm summer months.
The worst months of the year for accidents are October
and November between the hours of 4pm and 5pm. 42% of
road deaths occur in the dark.
As weather conditions deteriorate in autumn and winter
the roads become more dangerous. The roads are
maintained by the Highways Agency, an Executive Agency
for the Department of Transport, who salts and grits the
motorways and trunk roads. Other smaller roads are
gritted by local councils although some rural roads are
not covered at all. The Highways Agency aims to reduce
delays and the amount of road traffic accidents by
clearing snow and preventing the formation of ice.
The gritting service depends on the weather forecast and
there is therefore room for error. Teams of gritters are
on nightly standby throughout the country in the winter
months. They wait for the temperature to drop to around
1? and are then called in for gritting. An error of
around 1? is crucial when the temperature is about zero,
but is not as critical when the temperature is about 5?.
Local expertise and experience is vital around the time
when gritters are in operation. Precautionary gritting
is carried out in the evening after the rush hour and
first thing in the morning before the morning traffic.
Personal injury claim Unfortunately there still many car
accidents and road traffic accidents involving
motorcycles and lorries every year in the UK due to
adverse weather conditions. Whilst many of the accidents
that occur are as a result of driver error or
carelessness, some can be attributed to a failure on the
part of the agencies in charge of road maintenance, to
grit the roads. If a driver has a car accident because
of icy or snowy conditions that could have been avoided
because the agency in charge of this had failed to grit
the road, then a personal injury claim may be brought
against the agency. If the driver is injured and their
vehicle is damaged then they may be entitled by law to
claim compensation if it can be proven that someone else
was at fault.
The Highways Agency and each council have criteria for
gritting. Unfortunately on occasions the roads may not
be gritted because they could not predict the adverse
weather conditions. If an accident occurs when the roads
should reasonably have been gritted, then compensation
could be sought. These cases can be complicated and it
may be difficult to prove that a local authority or
government agency was responsible for the accident. If
you have been in a car accident that was caused by black
ice on a road you believe should have been gritted then
you may want to seek legal advice about your position.
What should you do if you have an accident? If you have
had a road traffic accident that you believe was not
your fault then you may be entitled to make a personal
injury claim. You can get free legal advice at
www.wheelsatonce.com or you can call on 0800 78 38 846
to learn more.
Avoiding accidents Although we do rely on road
maintenance to a large extent to keep our roads safe we
should always take our own precautions when driving in
the winter. You should take extra care in the roads,
drive slowly and carefully when the weather is bad and
make sure you have carried out basic maintenance on your
vehicle. You should always:
- Check that your lights work and are clean
- Check the tyre pressure
- Check the oil level
- Make sure you have enough window cleaning solution, in
case you have to drive on a dirty road
- Carry emergency provisions and warm clothes in case
you break down
About the Author
Editorial notes: Wheelsatonce
http://www.wheelsatonce.com provides compensation to
people who have been injured in an accident that was not
their fault.
Author: Sophie Evans - http://www.wheelsatonce.com Call
0800 78 38 846 for more details |
