Big Jase:
I would suggest what the highway code says.
268
Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.
When a gritter is travelling slow in lane 2 I would suggest that the above applies but most people havent seen a highway code in years, right Rog.
So what Big Jase is saying is, that every truck & coach must follow the gritter at 35mph until he runs out of salt. The most sensible advice I have seen about overtaking gritters is not to overtake if there is a risk of running onto deep uncleared snow. It depends how the plough is set as to which side you would pass.
Darby Flyer:
Coming up the A38 today,near Alfreton, I passed 2 new gritters going to wherever.
Here’s one…
I would just like to ask, seeing as they aren’t gritting, why do they have the beacons flashing?? Is it a requirement because of the blade on the front?
Yes, when you have the plough on the beacons must be on as the plough is quite a bit wider to the nearside than the truck. I used to be a relief gritter driver, and had to do an NVQ in ‘winter-maintenance’. On the driving assessment I had to pretend to ‘plough’ the hard shoulder on the M11, on a lovely day in late September! The amount of near-misses with gobsmacked drivers wondering what was happening had to be seen to be believed.
can they still be run on Gas oil (red diesel)? & do you do so?
If not, why not? as uneccessarily running on DERV would be seen as a waste of public funds.
Yes they all run on gas oil, as long as they are a permanent gritter.
If the vehicle is a demount gritter (i.e can have a tipper body mounted instead or is a flat with gritting body attached) then when not gritting it must use Derv. This of course means faffing about changing the filters each time you switch back to Derv. Only back up (second line) gritters would be affected and for the amount of times they would be used as a gritter they would more than likely stay on Derv.
For instance we have some 18t 3 way tipper chassis that are capable of spreading salt which we have to use Derv in as its not their main purpose.
The only recent changes with regards to what can run on Red are vehicles used for White Lining must now use Derv as the exemption has been removed.
Big Jase:
I would suggest what the highway code says.
268
Do not overtake on the left or move to a lane on your left to overtake. In congested conditions, where adjacent lanes of traffic are moving at similar speeds, traffic in left-hand lanes may sometimes be moving faster than traffic to the right. In these conditions you may keep up with the traffic in your lane even if this means passing traffic in the lane to your right. Do not weave in and out of lanes to overtake.
When a gritter is travelling slow in lane 2 I would suggest that the above applies but most people havent seen a highway code in years, right Rog.
So what Big Jase is saying is, that every truck & coach must follow the gritter at 35mph until he runs out of salt. The most sensible advice I have seen about overtaking gritters is not to overtake if there is a risk of running onto deep uncleared snow. It depends how the plough is set as to which side you would pass.
Um, no actually, im suggesting that as the gritter is travelling slower in lane 2 than you can go in lane 1 then undertake. Having been a TO for some time now this question has been asked many times before and the answer is always the same.
Wheel nuts was suggesting that I was saying you should sit in lane 1 or 2 behind the gritter and not pass until he has ran out of salt. I was not saying that,if he is gritting you should pass him on either side. Thats what im refering to. I wouldnt pass a plough that is, um ploughing as your likely to get covered in crap and lose visibility.
Big Jase:
Wheel nuts was suggesting that I was saying you should sit in lane 1 or 2 behind the gritter and not pass until he has ran out of salt. I was not saying that,if he is gritting you should pass him on either side. Thats what im refering to. I wouldnt pass a plough that is, um ploughing as your likely to get covered in crap and lose visibility.
Then we are all agreed then, Rog said it was ok to overtake, either side, Mikeyb said we can pass either side. I said we can pass either side, and apart from quoting the piece from the HC, you have agreed that we can overtake a gritter on either side.
As for the flashing lights on the front of the truck, the gritters & wreckers around here also operate on the major & minor routes that are not motorways. But again the amber lamps are abused on the motorway, on the country lanes and even by the authorities. I passed a council tipper truck today filling potholes on a blind bend with double white lines, no signs, just a hi-viz vest and a solitary flashing lamp on the roof.
Wheel Nut:
Then we are all agreed then, Rog said it was ok to overtake, either side, Mikeyb said we can pass either side. I said we can pass either side, and apart from quoting the piece from the HC, you have agreed that we can overtake a gritter on either side.
And the gritter driver will be expecting vehicles to pass/overtake or undertake on either side if sitting in the middle lane of a 3 lane motorway
Jst like the bin men who have orange lights on while working at the rear of the truck and then leave them on while doing 30 back to the depot and they wonder why people nearly take them out with them diluting orange light effectivenss, well its gone now anyway as the recovery industry dont help matters either.
Wheel Nut:
As for the flashing lights on the front of the truck, the gritters & wreckers around here also operate on the major & minor routes that are not motorways. But again the amber lamps are abused on the motorway, on the country lanes and even by the authorities. I passed a council tipper truck today filling potholes on a blind bend with double white lines, no signs, just a hi-viz vest and a solitary flashing lamp on the roof.
Wheel Nut:
As for the flashing lights on the front of the truck, the gritters & wreckers around here also operate on the major & minor routes that are not motorways. But again the amber lamps are abused on the motorway, on the country lanes and even by the authorities. I passed a council tipper truck today filling potholes on a blind bend with double white lines, no signs, just a hi-viz vest and a solitary flashing lamp on the roof.
mikeyb:
If anyone else has any questions about gritters I would be happy to answer them for you as its part of my job in highway maintenance.
Based on a few pieces of information from other posts in this thread, you don’t have side-mounted ploughs equipped to your gritters but only a front plough? If so, I’m bit surprised as I’d have though that with the amount of motorways you have, side ploughs would be must-to-have equipment as with them you can clear one lane and hard shoulder simultaneously.
In 30 odd years of living in the South East I’ve never seen more than a few inches of snow on the ground, and rarely seen any causing problems on the motorway. The one and only time I have seen a snow plough in use was on the M20 ploughing the hard shoulder, which was about 2" thick whilst the main lanes were all clear.
The trouble with our weather is it’s mediocrity, it’s never that cold or that hot so we never have the appropriate equipment to deal with it every 30 years when it actually is that cold or hot etc.
It’s a no win for the local authorities though, if they spend millions on snow blowers and ploughs etc there will be an uproar about the waste of public money. However if they don’t spend the money, the same people bleat on about how ill equipped we are to deal with 3 inches of snow. “Canada gets about 18 feet of snow overnight and they can cope” is the sort of old crap people come out with, not realising that Canada can cope with vast volumes of snow because it actually gets it often and has to deal with it.
8wheels:
In 30 odd years of living in the South East I’ve never seen more than a few inches of snow on the ground, and rarely seen any causing problems on the motorway. The one and only time I have seen a snow plough in use was on the M20 ploughing the hard shoulder, which was about 2" thick whilst the main lanes were all clear.
Oh, I hadn’t realized it was that rare over there that snow actually have to be ploughed away. I had somehow thought that roads are ploughed same time as salt is spread on them, but obviously it’s only a salt most of the times then.
8wheels:
In 30 odd years of living in the South East I’ve never seen more than a few inches of snow on the ground, and rarely seen any causing problems on the motorway. The one and only time I have seen a snow plough in use was on the M20 ploughing the hard shoulder, which was about 2" thick whilst the main lanes were all clear.
Oh, I hadn’t realized it was that rare over there that snow actually have to be ploughed away. I had somehow thought that roads are ploughed same time as salt is spread on them, but obviously it’s only a salt most of the times then.
It snows about 3 times a year, yet all the roads are blocked for days, probably with truck drivers refusing to overtake gritters
