St Albans is covered in a pretty thick blanket of snow. It happens to be one of the busiest weekends of the year with people buying last minute gifts and preparing for parties. Yet the state of the roads makes this extremely difficult.
The met office has issued the following advice;
During snow or ice
- Avoid travel if possible.
- If you must drive check the Highway Code for advice on driving in ice and snowy weather. A summary of the advice is: Take care around gritters. Don’t be tempted to overtake. Slow down — it can take 10 times longer to stop in snowy or icy conditions, so allow extra room. Use the highest gear possible to avoid wheel spin. Manoeuvre gently and avoid harsh braking and acceleration. If you start to skid, gently ease off the accelerator and avoid braking. If braking is necessary, pump the brakes don’t slam them on. If you get stuck, stay with your car and tie something brightly coloured to your aerial.
- If you go outside wear several layers of clothing and keep dry to prevent loss of body heat. Watch out for signs of hypothermia — uncontrollable shivering, slow/slurred speech, memory lapse and drowsiness and frostbite — loss of feeling in and pale appearance of fingers, toes, nose and ear lobes. Keep moving your arms and legs to help the blood circulate.
After snow and ice
- Be careful when walking or driving on compacted snow — it may have turned to ice.
- Take care when shovelling snow. Cold air makes it harder to work and breathe, which adds some extra strain on the body and can be the cause of heart attacks in the vulnerable.
More local information available from the St Albans District Council’s website;http://www.stalbans.gov.uk/advice-and-benefits/emergencies/winterweatherinformation/
