Unless you entered hibernation this weekend, there was one main event which wouldn’t have escaped your knowledge: Snow. The UK was once again brought to a standstill with temperatures plummeting as low as -12C. As an icy blanket froze over Britain, so did our transport networks once again. Why is it that Britain and snow just don’t go?
With weather forcasts that little more reliable these days, the weather warnings were already in place before our cold snap this weekend. This meant we should have been prepared, but alas no, once again Britain was caught out in the cold.
Over the weekend both two UK major roads the M40 and M25 froze in the midst of the snow, air travel was disrupted and train services cancelled. The picture was the same across the UK, not only in the South East. From Heathrow to Luton to Birmingham, flights were cancelled due to the possibility of freezing fog causing havoc to weekend travelers. Judging from the reaction of transport authorities, one could easily be mistaken for thinking that we were not forewarned about the impending cold snap which led to chaos.
A car in North London loses control due to conditions.
However, early on Saturday morning PM David Cameron was briefed about the weather situation, and local councils declared that they had been out in force since Monday preparing for the weather. Extra staff were apparently hauled in to treat roads and plan ahead, yet the reality of the situation is it all seems to have made little difference.
It seems its all to easy to pin the blame for our lack of preparation to those in charge. The British seem to have a view that everything should be taken care of, and we can continue our daily routines without disruption. However some of the blame must lie with British motorists. Sometimes we seem to lack that little bit of common sense. The majority of cars on British roads are not designed to cope with cold weather like our European counterparts simply because for the other 364 days of the year its not necessary. Maybe we should learn to listen to warning and only travel if absolutely necessary.
But with accidents across the UK, and stranded motorists having to wait up to 6 hours to be rescued, it seems little has changed in recent years regarding our reaction to difficult and harsh weather conditions. The roads may have been gritted, and plans put it place to avoid disruption, but it still, yet again was not enough. The Highways Agency though are adamant they did everything within their power to be as “prepared as possible”.
If this is how we react to a small cold snap, how will the countries roads cope during the Olympics when our roads will have to deal with the strain of millions more users?