Exercise caution in snow

With a heavy fall of snow predicted today, Friday, motorists and other road users and pedestrians are being urged to take care.

Urging caution, transport Minister Danny Kennedy said that gritters were on standby to deal with bad weather: “Since October, more than 300 staff and over 130 gritters have been salting the main roads during the cold spells to help drivers cope with wintry conditions.

“We are now half-way through the winter period and would expect further icy conditions and snow before the end of March. During spells of prolonged snow, all gritters will be fitted with snow ploughs and efforts directed to clearing snow from motorways and the trunk roads, before moving to other main roads and the busiest urban link roads.”

The operation will continue until all roads are cleared, but this may take some time, even with all resources deployed. In very deep snow, Roads Service will use its nine snow blowers, the latest of which can shift 1,600 tonnes of snow an hour.

Concluding the Minister said: “I would urge motorists to take care on the roads. The best advice is 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.

“I would again remind the public to make sure their homes including outside pipes are well insulated and that we all keep an eye on our vulnerable and elderly neighbours.”

Roads Service will try to ensure that motorists are kept fully up to date with road conditions at this time of year. Information on salting activities is relayed electronically to the media to ensure the latest news on road conditions is available to motorists. This information is also relayed to the Roads Service public facing web sitehttp://www.trafficwatchni.com to ensure the public are kept up to date with winter service operations.

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