Winter Driving

To help our highway teams combat icy road conditions we use a host of sophisticated tools and equipment including:

64 Gritters
45 Snow Ploughs
Salt Bins/ Piles
30,000 Tonnes of Salt
7 Ice Prediction Weather Stations

Once the decision has been taken to salt the roads we aim to treat Staffordshire's priority routes within two hours from the start of salting. With each treatment costing about £28,000 that works out at a total cost of about £2.8m for an average winter.

Even with all the resources that are available to us, we know that we can’t cover 100% of our communities on demand especially when the conditions are as difficult as those we have experienced over recent years.

During the winter of 2011-12 we wrote to our Parish Council colleagues encouraging them to work with us and asked if they would like to support their community by gritting what they considered to be the most important footways for example around shopping areas, schools, sheltered accommodation and GP’s surgery’s. Following this consultation we are now in position to introduce Ice Busters – Supporting Local Communities in Self Help – Footway Treatment|

We provide over 1,200 grit bins around the county; usually in locations that are not on a gritting route or where a particular hazard has been identified. These grit bins are for local communities to use on the highway. For salt to use on private property, please purchase material from local stores; this will help us to make sure that when salt is needed for the highway it remains available in grit bins.

For information on how you can help yourself and your local community, take a look at the 'snow code'| and our 'grit bin'| page which give advice on clearing snow and ice on the pavement outside your home or from public spaces.

Throughout the winter, we will be giving regular updates on weather conditions and highways action via our winter 'Twitter' page. The updates will include information about the areas of the county that we will be treating and, any expected adverse conditions such as ice and snow.

Find out about the weather for the week ahead|