got a real fright this morning!!!

[brandy]

scared me enough to actually put in a complaint!
went to take Ben to school this morning at about 9:30 and was nearlly hit by a gritter!
was turning onto royal place and had just made the turn when a gritter came baralling towards me.. the boy looked me right in the eye andhe never attempted to slow down!
now i was nearly onto royal place at this point and still in the curve and had to slam on my breaks on ice and the car did the.. chu chu chu.. and shudder and slide that happens when you slam on breaks on ice . he still didnt slow down and kept on going and came close enough that it sprayed grit up to my windshield!
nomally, i dont get shook up as im a pretty confident driver.. but i just wouldnt win in a showdown with a gritter! I was thankfully going really really slow.. not even 5mph so was really lucky!
the thing is this isnt the first time!
last week on the last day of the big snow before it melted.. the kid spot and i was playing outside our house. a council van came up our street at some speed.. with heavy snow on the ground.. at the bottom of the street he slid side ways before he corrected then kept coming without slowing down... even though you could see there was young kids and a dog out playing... he went around a sharp corner at the top and slid sideways again.. before spinning out onto the main street again.
what is wrong with the guys?
both were young men! i dont know if that has anything to do with a lack of sence but really!
a little common sence can go a long way!

[Chrisf1961]

Weve had the same round here with the gritters driving round the roads like demented numptys.......i somehow think they think that cos the are in a larger vehicle that they woint come to any harm and can bully people off the roads....cretins........

[orkneycadian]

Were you nearly hit by a gritter, or was the gritter nearly hit by a car?

Sounds like he was a large vehicle already travelling along a fairly narrow street, you started turning in, almost into his path by the sound of it, then stopped so he kept going intending to exit the street and turn out the end? Being a narrow street, yep, you would be pretty close to the spinner on the back and if it were running, would get a fair spray of salt.

I guess he would have to make the same turn that you were executing, so can't have been "barrelling" too hard?

[Aussiewicker]

Better making a complaint to the Council & the Police, rather than spending 10mins writing up a thread here....

If the Council doesn't know who is driving their vehicles at any specific point in time, then there's a bigger problem for them to correct too.

[changilass]

First sentence in Brandy's opening post makes it clear that she did just that afore posting on here.

[brandy]

nope, he was at the other end of the street when i started pulling in. its a really short street but its not that short. he had loads of time that he could have slowed down.
im not saying he should have stopped but that he should have slowed down enough that it
didnt turn into a dangerous situation. and yes he was going to fast on a street that is covered in ice, or at least it seemed that way to me at the time! if it tells you anything i have lived here for 10 years and that is the first and only time i have ever lodged a complaint about anything.

[telfordstar]

Better making a complaint to the Council & the Police, rather than spending 10mins writing up a thread here....

If the Council doesn't know who is driving their vehicles at any specific point in time, then there's a bigger problem for them to correct too.

Think her first line explains alot!

[annemarie482]

to be honest i'm just glad they are out there doing their job!
and tackling the smaller roads too.
the drivers are damned if they do damned if they dont!
dare say the have a lot of roads to cover during their shift.
consider it a near miss as with any other vehicle in these conditions.
i personally wouldn't have bothered with putting a complaint in.
but thats me.

[Logical]

Were you nearly hit by a gritter, or was the gritter nearly hit by a car?

Sounds like he was a large vehicle already travelling along a fairly narrow street, you started turning in, almost into his path by the sound of it, then stopped so he kept going intending to exit the street and turn out the end? Being a narrow street, yep, you would be pretty close to the spinner on the back and if it were running, would get a fair spray of salt.

I guess he would have to make the same turn that you were executing, so can't have been "barrelling" too hard?

Your very quick to turn with the accusations, someone is nearly killed and first chance you get your blaming her without any foreknowledge.

[Aussiewicker]

First sentence in Brandy's opening post makes it clear that she did just that afore posting on here.

Yes, she did indeed: Apologies.

[Scarybiscuits03]

scared me enough to actually put in a complaint!
went to take Ben to school this morning at about 9:30 and was nearlly hit by a gritter!
was turning onto royal place and had just made the turn when a gritter came baralling towards me.. the boy looked me right in the eye andhe never attempted to slow down!
now i was nearly onto royal place at this point and still in the curve and had to slam on my breaks on ice and the car did the.. chu chu chu.. and shudder and slide that happens when you slam on breaks on ice . he still didnt slow down and kept on going and came close enough that it sprayed grit up to my windshield!
nomally, i dont get shook up as im a pretty confident driver.. but i just wouldnt win in a showdown with a gritter! I was thankfully going really really slow.. not even 5mph so was really lucky!
the thing is this isnt the first time!
last week on the last day of the big snow before it melted.. the kid spot and i was playing outside our house. a council van came up our street at some speed.. with heavy snow on the ground.. at the bottom of the street he slid side ways before he corrected then kept coming without slowing down... even though you could see there was young kids and a dog out playing... he went around a sharp corner at the top and slid sideways again.. before spinning out onto the main street again.
what is wrong with the guys?
both were young men! i dont know if that has anything to do with a lack of sence but really!
a little common sence can go a long way!

In these conditions nobody should be "barelling" down any street no matter how large their vehicle, everyone should be respectfully looking out for other road users and pedestrians - You did the right thing in complaining to the Council.

[brandy]

well i have to admit i wasnt nearlly killed but it wouldnt have been nice to be hit! exspecially with my little boy in the car.
as annemarie said, i really do appreciate the job they are doing.. and i know they have a lot of work to do.
my big concern is safety. and something that i did point out when i called the council.
like last time when the schools are closed and the kids are out and about playing, they tend to dart back and forth .. now im not talking about teenagers.. but the 7-8 year olds that are more concerned with playing in the snow.. and they tend to forget to be extra carefull..
a child would not have a chance against a gritter or a plow..
or a car for that matter.
this time of year as drivers we have to be extra carefull, take it slow keep an extra sharp eye out for small people who may just appear in front of your car!
its not easy, but no one can just disregard safety measures which is what happened in both situations in my OP.
most people are carefull drivers but there are a few that just make the road dangerous for everyone.. and there are a few pedestrians that think they own the pavment and the road as well.. so heres fingers crossed for extra peeled eyes and looking out for others!

[Vistravi]

to be honest i'm just glad they are out there doing their job!
and tackling the smaller roads too.
the drivers are damned if they do damned if they dont!
dare say the have a lot of roads to cover during their shift.
consider it a near miss as with any other vehicle in these conditions.
i personally wouldn't have bothered with putting a complaint in.
but thats me.

I'm sorry i have to disagree.

If she hadn't reported these two guys then there next victim of their stupidy in the snow could be a death.

When it comes to safety you don't roll over and let an idiot carry on knowing that the next time could be a death.

Yes they have a lot to do but that does not excuse them of throwing safety to the wind. As Brandy said the guy saw her and made no attempts to slow down. That kind of driver should not be on the road as he poses a risk to everyone he meets on the road be it in vehicles or on foot.

[dragonfly]

the roads in Wick this morning were trecherous and I nearly slammed into a family - approaching traffic lights which were on green, family standing at side of road, I'm going real slow as I know car will slide if I put brakes on, get level with lights and they decide to cross in front of me I had to steer into other side of road to avoid them, good job nothing was comign that way or it would have been a crash. when snows on the ground even 5mph is too fast when wanting to stop in an instant

[crashbandicoot1979]

the roads in Wick this morning were trecherous and I nearly slammed into a family - approaching traffic lights which were on green, family standing at side of road, I'm going real slow as I know car will slide if I put brakes on, get level with lights and they decide to cross in front of me I had to steer into other side of road to avoid them, good job nothing was comign that way or it would have been a crash. when snows on the ground even 5mph is too fast when wanting to stop in an instant

A similar thing happened to me last week - I went through the red light at the corner of Bridge Street, even though I'd slowed down long before I got there - the car just refused to stop. Thankfully there was no one crossing, although the thought that I might have hit someone left me quite shaken. Its not worth taking any chances in this weather but unfortunately a lot of people do.........

[Vistravi]

the roads in Wick this morning were trecherous and I nearly slammed into a family - approaching traffic lights which were on green, family standing at side of road, I'm going real slow as I know car will slide if I put brakes on, get level with lights and they decide to cross in front of me I had to steer into other side of road to avoid them, good job nothing was comign that way or it would have been a crash. when snows on the ground even 5mph is too fast when wanting to stop in an instant

Maybe i just think like a driver while being a pedestrain but i always allow drivers time to stop and never go out in front knowing that the driver does not have time to stop. Espcilly when it was snow and have to allow drivers time to slow or stop at the zebra crossing and have to get my buggy over the big mounts of snow that were at the edge of the pavements.

[badger]

Wouldn't hurt all drivers to slow down where there are other vehicles or people around. Walking down a street the other day I got filthy being sprayed with grit and snow by large vehicles driving through at normal speeds.

[ducati]

It's worth noting in this weather that Anti-Lock brakes on Ice, effectively turn your brakes off!

[rum rat]

No, ice effectively turns your brakes off !

[orkneycadian]

Your very quick to turn with the accusations, someone is nearly killed and first chance you get your blaming her without any foreknowledge.

2 sides to every story, and the other guys not here (or is he??) to give his version.

Its not impossible that this could be an account from the same scenario. It is however entirely fictitious, but goes to show that there could be a different view from the cab of the gritter....

"Some wife had a lucky escape in Royal Place this morning.... We'd just been to the yard for salt and had a full load on - All 10 tonnes of it. Anyway, we were coming along Royal place when this wife came round the corner, saw us, panicked and clapped the brakes on, skiting along in a 4 wheel skid. It was lucky for her she stopped where she did. With a full 10 tonnes of salt on the back, plus the weight of the lorry, theres no way we could pull up in the space that would be left if she'd come ahead any further. As it was, we just managed to get by her, but she was probably a bit close to the spinner on the back to not get a windscreen full of salt. She didn't look very happy, but honestly, some folk have no idea how much momentum the machine has when its fully load up! She might have thought we wern't trying to slow down, but boy we were! It just takes a heck of a lot more to stop a fully loaded gritter than it does a Fiat Panda! The number of times in a day that folk pull out in front of us expecting us to stop on a sixpence for them!

I hate doing the narrow streets. Folk moan if we don't salt them, but its not easy manoeuvring a big gritter down narrow streets, avoiding parked cars, and folk skiting about on the snow in their cars.

Anyway, no harm done, and another side road done!"