Madam, – On New Year’s Eve we were in New Paltz in upstate New York preparing for our flight home. It started to snow. Three inches fell in under an hour. Twenty minutes later all the main thoroughfares were ploughed, salt and grit laid down. The snow ploughs, a mix of civic and private operators, were busy working the side streets. The citizens of the town were doing their required part, clearing the sidewalks and driveways. Twenty minutes later, no one was at home waiting for something to be done, action was underway, ensuring no ice formed. We drove with no disruption to JFK airport and commenced our flight to Dublin.
This procedure is not rocket science. It requires a set of equipment and supplies, as well as a flexible set of plans in place. In Dublin, a smaller snowfall shut the airport down, slowed the N7 to a crawl and made an ice-rink of the streets of northside Dublin.
We were still not home, 24 hours later. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – While the cold weather continued to cause major disruption, the Dublin Lord Mayor Emer Costello said road maintenance crews were working tirelessly to ensure the roads were passable. “This high level of public service will continue”, she added (Front page, January 2nd). But the reality was, as we slip-slided away on our pavements and roads, the high level of public service lacked true grit. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – On Friday last in my home town of Newcastle, Co Down at 6.15pm I came across two road gritters salting the road. This is a small town, with a population of approximately 7,500. The roads are all clear.
Sunday evening back in Clondalkin and the road are still a mess. – Is mise,
Madam, – During the freezing conditions, I observed some drivers sharing characteristics associated with lemmings, while others behaved like ostriches.
While “proceeding with caution” on treacherous roads, I was overtaken by people driving at speed, apparently trying very hard to hasten their own demise. I was disinclined to join their rush to eternity, but I was concerned that I might be involved unwillingly.
Another group of drivers is apparently oblivious to the need to put on their headlights when visibility is sub-optimal. These drivers appear to prefer to drive unseen and do not respond to flashing lights, other than to occasionally wave back. Do these drivers represent a new mentality, where taking responsibility for one’s own safety is not seen as important? Their response to difficult conditions is either carelessly to let fate have its way, or metaphorically to bury their heads in the snow. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Just after Christmas, the weather forecasters told us that New Year’s Eve around Dublin was going to be a pretty cold night with a fair chance of snow and very low temperatures.
So it was no surprise to look out the window around 11.45pm on January 31st to see scenes reminiscent of a Christmas card. However, the snow stopped shortly after midnight and it was just bitterly cold and freezing thereafter.
We had to take two cars to Dublin Airport early on New Year’s morning as one of our sons was returning from the US where he (along with wife and children) had spent the “holidays”.
Although the bad weather had been forecast some days previously, we spent an hour and a half on extremely dangerous untreated main roads to the airport. (It usually takes less than half an hour at that time of the morning.) When we got to the airport, we discovered that it was closed because of the weather and would not open till around 10.30am – although the runways were open, the aprons were congested with snow.
Our family members spent a few hours in Shannon before arriving in Dublin over five hours late. The weather around that area had been bad for over a week, but that airport managed to stay open.
Apart from running a very limited city centre service for a short while, Dublin Bus also threw in the towel. (Meanwhile, the private bus operators into Dublin Airport seemed to be running a half-decent service.) Driving back from the airport in the early afternoon the road was much better, but still it was clear that the improvement was caused by a very mild thaw and the effects of traffic. There was no evidence of gritting.
What is it about this part of the world that causes what would be relatively mild snow storms in places such as Scandinavia (or the western United States which is where our family members started their travels) to bring the place to a grinding halt? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – As one of thousands who travelled to rural Ireland (west Kerry in my case) over the Christmas and New Year Holiday, I wish to make some observations. We drove to the village of Cloghane at the foot of Mount Brandon. Our first hazard “ice” warning light flashed on our dashboard three minutes into our journey on Highfield Road, in Dublin, (a sheet of ice as a result of a burst pipe which was gritted only in the near vicinity of the problem). Only on one other occasion, traversing 700km of main, motorway, and secondary roads, did my trustworthy “ice indicator” light up and that was in Co Kerry. This covered the week of December 28th to January 3rd.
All we, the driving public require is, that a single authority advise that the main routes from major towns and cities are open, and, exercising care, we can make our journeys with due care and attention to the prevailing conditions. Instead, we are getting piecemeal information and blanket no-go area soundbites. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – With the country in the grip of freezing conditions for about two weeks now, can I suggest it’s time to refrain from using the term “cold snap”, which by definition implies something more transitory? – Yours, etc,