I don't think the garbage pickup is quite as regular as it used to be- at least in some areas.
Winter officially begins in our neck of the woods.
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I don't think the garbage pickup is quite as regular as it used to be- at least in some areas.
I hear ya.
I used to cringe when I saw the loader heading to the salt shack for a load of calcium as it can destroy a winter road in minutes but it does work at colder temperatures where potash is only good to about -10.
The mines dont use it anymore,even for dust control in the summer,they switched to potash and a tree sap mixture.
Thiirty five years ago in Alberta you could allways tell the cars that came from Ontario as most were full of rust.:smile:
Up here in the Interior of Beautiful BC, Interior Roads (the private contractor who "takes care" of your roads in our area) has another approach to the sand on road thing...and here is a summary of their typical response procedures employed to address wintry road conditions:
They used big stones on the road, mix it with salt, and load it into their fleet of trucks. Then they wait for a good dump of snow to come along. They proceed to Tim Hortons to iron out the final tactical details necessary to implement their strategic plan to keep our highways and byways safe for all.
At the appointed hour (when the coffee pot goes dry), the trucks then move out with a sense of purpose, spreading this mixture of rocks and salt all over the top of the freshly-fallen snow. After a few hours of logging trucks, pickups, and cars packing it all down into a nice sheet of ice - with windshield-smashing interludes, which tend to disperse the rocks into the ditches after they take out the windshields and a number of spin-outs into the ditches (and the ditches can be deep in BC) - they send out the plow trucks, which all have their blades raised to "just above" the road surface so as to prevent any bothersome and expensive blade and road surface wear. Mind you, it could also be a safety issue, as a blade placed down tight to the road surface would "grab" pieces of poorly-maintained and broken asphalt protuding above the otherwise perfect road surfaces, thus endangering the lives of the snow truck operators, or at least making the CD skip a beat or two.
They then all proceed back to Tim Hortons to nourish their bodies and minds and await the next snowfall so they can go forth and pursue their mission of road maintenance and serve the residents of the area. And the windshield replacement shops. And the tow truck operators.
Ah, it's a wonderful winter lifestyle out here in the BC Interior...as long as you don't have to drive.
Well sure.... GM, Ford and Chrysler are here. One hand helps the other to pick the pockets clean....
lol Very descriptive. Also, very accurate. And you could describe these trucks too. They have an aversion to actually plowing off the edges of the roads and tend to get the middle. So people like to drive in the middle of the road. But when oncoming traffic forces everyone to move to the side, the outside wheels get bogged down in the slush (caused by the salty rocks) and people have to fight to stay on the road. The if there's a hill and the trucks can't get up the hill they sit there for a half hour and then leave instead of spitting out the contents (purportedly a plowtruck driver) to put the pretty chains on the wheels.
...And we both forgot the part where the sand & rock truck driver takes great delight in meeting oncoming cars on a 2 lane road, with his little spinner going full blast, to await the "WHACK" when the oversized piece of aggregrate (aka - a big bloody rock) meets the windshield of the oncoming car.
I'm not sure if it's the MSG-laced Timmy's coffee, the additive-laden "fresh" donuts, or just a generally sh*tty attitude that causes such a warped sense of service to the public in those "drivers." Something caused it, as I don't think anyone is actually born that way...it's an acquired "skill."
I think that's where the union-driven sense of entitlement comes in. It's the I-can-jack-around-doing-my-job-and-can't-get-fired-cuz-I-am-union syndrome.
Their supposed to shut the spinners off when meeting oncoming traffic and if they dont call their boss,you would be surprised at how strict they are on drivers because of that and windshield claims.
Haveing driven a few in the mine I can tell you there is an art to it,first the angle of the blade wants to throw you into oncoming traffic,thats why no high speed passes unless its centerline,you catch something in the ditch and you will get thrown sideways.
They also have a safety mechanism where the blade cant catch on bridge expansion joints or what have you.They are spring loaded and will roll forward rising over an obstruction if it happens.
Best thing to do when meeting a plow is slow down and give him room.
Either that or some of the yallops were dropped on their heads at birth and never recovered. :angryfire:
Hey Kakato, I agree with all that. But, the law of common sense doesn't exist here in this part of the world. I've been pointing this out for years, but no action.
When I see a plow truck coming, I just look for an emergency pull-off spot and try to point the windshield away from the oncoming window-breaker. This is the only province where I've ever encountered such butt-heads behind the wheel of those trucks, and it's always a consistent performance. Manitoba and Alberta have - in my opinion - the best, most sensible snow clearing crews of all. And BC wins the award for the absolute worst. Just an opinion...
That's pretty much my idea of defense, too.
What impresses me sometimes is the idea that these guys actually are bright enough and found the energy to get their class 3 DL.
I would be bitching,making calls to the contractor,your insurance company and the police if it's big enough to take out a windshield.
The bigger the rock their putting down the cheaper it is,it doesnt blow off the highway and you dont need a lot of potash or calcium to keep it from freezing in the truck.
Still they tried that here because of our high winds and enough people bitched that they went right to a sand potash mix now.
Theres also a few other reasons they arent useing finer material and a couple of them are laziness by the operator,sometimes they grab the bigger rock when their not supposed to,having the feeder chain freeze up means shoveling your load out by hand sometimes.
They dont shut off the belt or feeder chain here when passing someone,just the spinners.
Speaking for/from those outside of BC but in the Commercial transport
Industry, most guys are lucky to get in & out of BC twice in a winter per
windshield. The windshield costs less than a deductible for insurance,
and the BC scale operators are big on the cracked windshield thing, as
they should be, but....a new windshield every second to third trip into BC
adds up as out of pocket expenses for Carriers & Leased Operators.
It's ugly....
Industry, most guys are lucky to get in & out of BC twice in a winter per
windshield. The windshield costs less than a deductible for insurance,
and the BC scale operators are big on the cracked windshield thing, as
they should be, but....a new windshield every second to third trip into BC
adds up as out of pocket expenses for Carriers & Leased Operators.
It's ugly....
The various contractors are supposed to recompense you for the windshields here. I asked our local one about it.
Um, it isn't cheaper to use the bigger stuff in the end, because it costs windshields, costs to clean the ditches out after the road cleaners sweep all that stuff into the ditches, etc.
Oh, I've made calls to the contractor but the responses are a bit like discussing the behaviour of a spoiled brat with his/her mother. It's one of those "Oh no, not my little Johnny!" things. Waste of time.
Ditto for the insurance company call. We have basically one insurance company - "The People's Insurance Empire of BC"...oops, the real name is ICBC. A phone call to that organization is a bit like calling Ottawa to ask for a clear answer to a simple question. Ain't gonna' happen.
So now we're down to the police. They have - in the past, before I gave up calling for help - advised me to call the contractor and ICBC. Y'see how it goes here? Being a province with long-standing socialist tendencies, some things are set up to avoid the dreaded "being held personally accountable for your actions" thing...pretty much the opposite of what you'd find in Alberta. Here, that sort of nonsense is buried in various forms of BS, so we can drive everyone's performance down to the lowest common denominator. And keep it there.
The end result is, the plow truck driver's sense of self-esteem is well protected, and my windshield has exactly 13 "bullet holes" - with interconnecting cracks - since the beginning of "rock season." Which has only just started!
Don't get me wrong...I like BC for all the great things that exist here. It's just that winter driving isn't one of them, and that's because of the "care" given to our highways. :-(
Weird. Our contractors are ok with compensating for glass.
Anyway, can always say, "Thanks for not helping. I wonder if my lawyer has a suggestion".
It's way cheaper,the smaller it is the more expensive it is.
Anyone who's built roads will attest to that.
You also have to mix something with fines or it will freeze solid,coarse washed rock wont and they sometimes just used screened pit run so it is way cheaper.
The excess isnt allways cleaned up,once it's in the ditch it usually stays there and adds to the shoulder at the regular 3 to 1 slope.Thats natural repose and with erosion the extra material just fills in the low spots.
The contractors are usually good about the windshields but you have to tell them or they wont know that some drivers arent turning the spinners off as it's protocol to allways do that.