From Scotland to Southwest England, calls for councils to grit cycle paths (+ videos)

Another example of our elected legal bodies failing to provide a basic service which impacts more than just safety, but a behavioral change which helps the environment, health and economy.

I have hope that someone with a brain will be in charge in my lifetime to sort things out.

Solution to icy bike paths: get a recumbent trike - slippery surfaces become a playground, a wonderland of radical drifts and thrilling three-sixties!!!!

I went down three times last week on cycle paths that were like ice rinks. You know your tyres suddenly don't have any grip, you try to slow and stay balanced and then away goes your front or rear wheels. Agghhhh! ! F**k the Council for not gritting the paths.

Grit does work on white paint.
It's the damp on them following the grit melting the ice/frost that makes them slippy still.

Grit doesn't work on white paint, I know to my cost, and they are all falling on the crossing. Any scientists out there know why salt/grit doesn't work on white paint?

These paths could be gritted, if only they didn't have the Sustrans endorsed barriers at every single intersection that would block them.

Coming off your bike IS serious, people really should pay attention to the consequences. I suppose there's not the added risk of cars on cyclepaths.

I came off my bike on an ungritted road before Christmas at walking speed and broke my weeks. It's been 6 weeks off the bike, lost income and a load of hassle adjusting. It happened so easily. Think about the consequences! It could have been worse if I'd hit my head, but don't under-estimate how easy it easy for bones to break! I hope everyone in the above videos were ok

It'd be nice to have all bike paths gritted. It'd also be nice if they gritted the pavements I have to walk on too. It's all down to money eh ?

And yes those grippers for shoes are brilliant. So much safer than normal shoes in icy conditions.

I'm just a bit shocked that rather than using their time to warn cyclists about the ice they withdrew to a vantage point to film the carnage?

How about leaving your bike on the turbo trainer while there's ice on the roads?

Excellent

Another shout out for Marathon Winters.

I use paths for about 13 miles out of a 16 mile commute from Tyneside to Durham including the C2C, and none of them have not seen a sniff of grit all week.

They were especially treacherous on Tuesday, with sheet black ice after rain and then snow on top. The winters coped brilliantly with just a hint of squirming occasionally. Only time I came close to slipping was when I stopped at a junction & my foot slid when I put it down as the tyres did not give a hint at how bad it actually was.

Most of them are shared, so have pedestrians struggling to walk as well. We're not drivers though so LAs don't care.

Surely a quad with a grit box would be sensible.

TBH it's generally only main roads that are gritted.
I don't go anywhere near a cycle path on my commute through the Wiltshire countryside but would appreciate the B and minor roads being gritted.

If it's that icy I'll take my MTB instead, it is much easier to catch a slide and it's a lot of fun losing it. I hate the thought of cycle paths being gritted!! No!! Just sounds like another way to pass the blame buck, ah, God Bless the UFK....

Id imagine a local housing estate would get more traffic than most cycle paths, so not surprised to find they dont get gritted.

However! What exactly do you expect grit to do on big patches of ice on cycle paths? Without cars running it into the ground and spreading it about its nearly pointless. I say this as someone who has come off on a gritted road that hadnt seen much traffic.

As cyclists have always done over winter, just stick to the roads (or buy appropriate 'studded' tyres)

There's a lot of roads...the main ones get gritted. Gritting all roads and all cycle paths whenever there is a risk of ice would cost a fortune and take an army of staff...and even then ice can still form when running water washes the salt grit away.

I think we need to be careful we don't continue our headlong rush to follow the Americans and always look for someone somewhere to be at fault everytime something goes wrong...we have to accept there is a risk attached to cycling in ice prone conditions. Fat knobbly deflated tyres can help, studded ones can be even better but are often slower/heavier. Not riding a bike reduces all the risk albeit at the cost of inconvenience. Ho hum.

Here's how they do it properly in the Netherlands:
https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2015/01/13/how-to-make-cycling-possib...

Hmmm.
Low lying black tarmac path in wintery conditions....

...and if we have to start gritting every footway and cyclepath in the country as well as all the roads, we'd better start now by employing about 4 million people with shovels.

Getting the majority of roads gritted would be a start. If it has to go anywhere I'd rather it went there.

No no no!

I get enough grit dissolving my bike in winter already, thanks.

If it's icy, get some appropriate tyres or don't ride your bike. I wish the UK took the same approach to car traffic well.

Entirely symptomatic of a lack of consideration of cycling as a valid transport method. Its endemic across the country and lets face it Bristol is the best of a bad bunch! Its also a rubbish cycle path design but again, by far the best of a bad bunch!

Once Bristol has enough bike paths they might be able to invest in a quad bike or similar to grit it with. I was actually think about this the other day and it probably could be done by bike and a land-drive gritter trailer.

I'd argue that its actually MORE important to grit foot/cycle ways since broken hips and legs are more expensive to the government than bent cars. Do appreciate that the cars also pose a risk to pedestrians/cyclists when they loose control...