Letter: You can't blame one man for snow chaos

Even if the minister had seen Sunday night's bulletin regarding snow for the Central Belt what was he supposed to do? The snowfall was a lot more than forecast and I believe that even if he had gone on TV himself to warn of the situation, it would not have made a blind bit of difference. People tend not believe our weather is going to be as severe as forecast and a lot of drivers are convinced they are capable of driving in snow when they are not.

Surely the real problem is the fact there are too many vehicles, particularly lorries, on our roads and this, coupled with a lack of investment by successive governments in our roads infrastructure means gridlock even without snow. How this can be resolved without throwing a lot of money at the situation I do not know, but to blame one man is political point scoring gone mad.

TOM STEEL

Spencer Place

Kirkcaldy, Fife

Exactly what transport minister Stewart Stevenson is apologising for puzzles me. Unless all traffic had been kept off the roads until the ploughs had cleared them of snow and laid down grit, I do not believe the gridlock could have been avoided under such a heavy snowfall at such a critical time.

The onus goes back to every driver checking all weather and traffic bulletins before starting their vehicles. If they must venture out, see to it their vehicle is fit for season and that all requisites, such as shovel, boots, warm clothing, blanket, food, hot drinks, torch and safety vest are within the vehicle. Every vehicle on the road in poor conditions not only endangers the safety of its occupants but is a hazard to others, particularly those trying to keep the roads clear.

TOM GRAY

West Park

Braco, Perthshire

Regarding weather forecasts, and the communicating of them, one aspect that should be looked at is the lack of traditional weather maps with isobars indicating the position of fronts. Even if a viewer does not understand fully the weather patterns associated with fronts, it is possible to learn the significance of them in local terms.

For example, the famous Michael Fish "no hurricane" forecast was based on a system coming from the Atlantic up the English Channel, which acts as a funnel and intensifies the conditions. Knowing this, I immediately understood the risk. Equally, if I had a chart of the frontal system that caused the current Central Belt problems I would soon learn to avoid travelling via Harthill.

IAIN WD FORDE

Main Street

Scotlandwell, Kinross-shire

Snow has to be cleared as soon as it falls. Once it becomes impacted, it is impossible to clear and becomes sheets of ice.I lived in Chicago for five years and winters there are severe, with snow lying for about two months. Everyone has blowers and snow is cleared instantly. My 25-year-old son walked from the West End of Glasgow to Sauchiehall Street on Tuesday and found only three shops in the centre of town had cleared the pavements outside. Older people, as a result, have been stranded in their homes. We in Scotland need to rethink our whole attitude to snow.

PAULINE KEIGHTLEY

Crossburn Avenue

Glasgow

The basic mistake regarding winter maintenance occurred about 15 years ago when the Scottish Office decided to dispense with the use of local authorities who had provided this service as an integrated operation with their own road networks. Typically, a gritter route would consist of five miles of motorway/trunk road and 20 miles of local authority roads. Trunk roads were thus treated as a priority.

The decision to put this work out to contract meant a massive resource of management, supervisory and operational experience was wasted.

DAVID McEWAN

Springwood Bank

Kelso