Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Road safety charity the Institute of Advanced Motorists is offering weekly motoring tips from Britain’s top advanced driver, Peter Rodger. This week he is advising motorists on how to get going in the bleak midwinter. IAM chief examiner Mr Rodger said: “It can take a bit longer to get yourself going on a cold, dark winter morning, and getting the car going is no different. Give yourself the time to deal with the extra things involved in getting on the road.” He offers six tips to avoid seasonal car problems: * A modern car does not need to warm the engine up before being driven, so avoid wasting fuel by not switching on the engine until you are ready to go. But do run it if you need to use the heater/demister before you move off, so you can start with a nice clear screen. * Clean any snow off the car’s roof and bonnet as well as windows – it seems obvious when you see it all blow off someone else’s roof, but in the early morning rush it’s easy to think it won’t matter, when it does. ...

Carmarthenshire council is more than prepared for icy weather. Around £1 million is set aside every year as part of the winter maintenance programme with staff on standby 24 hours a day, seven days a week – even during Christmas and New Year. There are around 3,526 kilometres of road in Carmarthenshire and around a third is salted when weather conditions demand it. Once the decision to salt the roads is taken, approximately 1023 kilometres are treated usually within three hours of a bad weather warning. If snow should fall, snow clearing work comes into operation across the county. Executive Board Member for Technical Services Cllr Colin Evans said: “We do everything we can to keep our roads safe for both motorists and pedestrians during the winter months. “We have 16,500 tonnes of salt in storage ready to grit the roads when temperatures drop, that’s double the amount we had four years ago. We also have 1,100 grit bins across the county to treat local roads and pavements.” Roads are g...

Carmarthenshire is to receive a share of a £15 million cash boost to help cover the cost of the recent big freeze. The Welsh Assembly Government has announced additional funding of £8million to assist local authorities to deal with urgent road repairs and replenish their salt stocks. It comes on top of £7 million announced last week to fix potholes, bringing the total amount of extra funding to £15 million. Carmarthenshire will receive a total of £1.126 million to spend on pothole repairs, frost damage and purchasing salt. Potholes are caused by severe weather, particularly prolonged cold weather; water lies in cracks in the road and during periods of sub-zero temperatures it turns into ice and expands, causing the surface of the road to break up resulting in deeper-than-usual potholes. The council’s executive board member for technical services Councillor Philip Hughes said: “We welcome this extra money from the Welsh Assembly Government which will be used to target the worst-affected...