Mad Friday fears over frozen roads – Spot the difference between council and BEAR maintained roads either side of junction
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Mad Friday issues were flagged up by a local woman who fears that Highland Council is not doing enough to keep its pavements and roads clear from snow and ice as revellers take to the streets.
The woman, who did not wish to be named, was driving between Wick and Thurso yesterday and today when she encountered snow and ice on the A882 road. The stretch when it became the A9 was, however, mostly clear.
"We really need to sort these roads out," she told the paper yesterday. "The roads are ridiculous. An accident tonight and there were a few this week already. I’m very concerned about the Mad Friday traffic going between Wick and Thurso. Dounreay aren’t laying on buses this year, it will be a case of cars or taxis.
"Can BEAR Scotland not be called in to clear the roads tomorrow? We need to get something done about the road safety up here. We have a lot of young boyfriends/girlfriends running between Wick, Thurso and Halkirk. Let’s try to keep these young people alive."
She referred to tonight's Mad Friday in which large groups of work colleagues and friends head out to party in town centres. Apart from the county's icy roads, she noticed that many of the roads and pavements in Wick and Thurso were also filled with snow and ice which may cause issues for people out parting tonight.
She maintains that she went into the council's Service Point at their Wick office yesterday and staff said to her they were "sick of people coming in and moaning" about the road issues. "I thought that was the wrong attitude. I drove across snow on that road (A882) that had been lying from the night before and had never been cleared. I told them [council staff] we've got Mad Friday tomorrow and you know how many people will be travelling that road. I said it needs to be cleared."
The woman also claims that staff told her that a gritter had broken down and a tractor had been "going around and throwing out salt". She said that the staff appeared to take the matter personally and she did not feel very impressed by them. She said she didn't blame the council workers out clearing roads but stated that BEAR Scotland, the company responsible for maintaining trunk roads, was making a better job of it.
"I spoke to Jamie Stone’s [local MP] office and I left a voicemail with Raymond Bremner [council leader]. A police officer told me their response time is slowed because of the roads – perhaps the same for ambulances?" She said that the police officer she spoke to said there had been numerous road accidents because of the wintry conditions.
When Highland Council was contacted about the matter, a spokesperson maintained that "there are no issues with vehicles" and all crews are "working hard in challenging winter conditions to deliver a service that is in line with the agreed priority maintenance plan". They added that the conditions are extreme and are expected to continue in to early next week and that "the road in question is a priority route and has been treated in accordance with policy".
The council spokesperson said: “The maintenance of trunk roads is the responsibility of Transport Scotland and their operators BEAR Scotland (North West) and they have their own separate policies and procedures.
“Members set local priorities for local Highland Council roads at Area Committees working within the constraints and resources available providing that the length of roads treated remains the same. At the Caithness Committee meeting on August 22, members approved a winter maintenance plan for the area which includes priority road lists and maps showing the priority gritting routes.
“Across Caithness there are 135kms of Primary routes, 222km of Secondary routes and 49km of Other routes and these are treated using 10 front-line gritters, and four footpath tractors. Primary routes are treated first, followed by Secondary routes and crews will only move on to treat Other roads when the Primary and Secondary routes are all completed."
Highland Council’s Winter Service Policy can be viewed at www.highland.gov.uk/gritting
Thurso and Northwest Caithness councillor Matthew Reiss said that motorists who regularly drive in wintry conditions should consider fitting all-winter tyres.
"In the 'good old days', the council used to have the trunk road contract and I always felt that worked well because there was just one organisation in charge of gritting all the roads in the county and you could move around resources as needed," he told the paper this afternoon.
"The A9 is the main arterial route and it's important that it's kept open. The contrast [between council and BEAR maintained roads] is very striking and makes it obvious that the council is very much the poorer relative. As far as I know, the budget for winter gritting has not been changed and the reality is there are only a small number of staff and vehicles. The staff will be doing their utmost though.
"Another important point is that when you get below -5C the salt is much less effective. BEAR with their larger vehicles, and more resources, will be able to put more salt down on the A9 than the council can on all the other roads. It's simply not possible to get the same standard as on the A9 without being provided with a lot more cash. The busier a road is, the quicker the salt is worked into the compacted snow and ice. It works more quickly if a road is busy compared to a minor rural road."
The Met Office said that snowfall is likely to die out this evening across the area but temperatures will fall sufficiently to give "fairly widespread icy surfaces". It further states: "This will lead to hazardous conditions on some roads and pavements, especially untreated or uncleared ones."
Police Scotland was made aware of an accident on the B874 at 4.30pm yesterday in which a car left the road near Halkirk. Buses were delayed because of the incident and arrangements were made to have the vehicle removed. There is an unconfirmed report of another crash in that area tonight at around 5.30pm.
