What is road grit?
Well its not actually grit anymore, its Rock salt (halite)
Salt doesn’t block drains and doesn’t leave any residual mess so is environmentally friendly
How does it work?
It helps car tyres to grip the road when it’s wet, icy or snowy, to help prevent the risk of accidents. The salt mixes with the snow to create a saline solution, melting snow & ice which then washes away.
Where do we get our grit?
The rock salt is mined the UK you can find salt mines in Cheshire, County Antrim.
Some 2 million tonnes are spread across our roads every year!
How do Gritters know when to grit?
Weather forecasts. Ideally forewarned the gritters get a precautionary run and lay some grit before the 1st snowfall.
Then further gritting once temperatures have dropped and snow has landed but grit needs the traffic to be moving to get it to work.
Unfortunately, around 1,000 people still lose their lives or are seriously injured on roads due to snow & ice.
But the UKs dedicated gritter drivers are out in the worst of weathers trying to improve our road conditions to prevent as many accidents as possible.
