Conditions too bad to drive? Then don't

REARVIEW:ONE GOOD THING about the recent severe cold snap is that it showed what a tough, resilient and hardy bunch the people of this mighty little country can be when we put our minds to it and knuckle down, recession bedamned.

Gratitude for keeping the place running, by and large, is due to the brave bus and train drivers ploughing through blizzards, the Irish Rail staff prising apart frozen points, the NRA and the council workers putting in 16-hour shifts on the gritting lorries. We salute you, one and all.

Of course, despite the valiant efforts of the aforementioned, some people are never happy. There’ll always be the whingers and moaners who phone Joe Duffy complaining about the state of the roads and demanding to know why the Minister for Transport himself hasn’t arrived at their doorstep, shovel in one hand and sack of salt in the other, to clear their driveway for them. “What’re we paying our taxes for Joe, tell me that?” they’ll ask.

These people need to get real. Record-breaking freak snowfalls like the one we just experienced cause major transport problems. It’s a fact of life.

Even in countries like the US and Scandinavia, where they know heavy snow is coming every winter and prepare accordingly, it can lead to chaos. A colleague tells of his New Year celebrations spent in Denmark, where the local council hasn’t been able to meet the demands for salting on its main roads and where conditions are no better than he left at home. The community keeps the pavements clean but motorists still struggle to get around.

So carrying on as normal simply isn’t an option and allowances must be made. Conditions too bad to drive? Then don’t.

We have to make a choice. Do we take responsibility for ourselves, buy some winter tyres and get on with it, helping our neighbours as best we can? Or do we demand the Government dips deep into its limited pot of gold and spends tens of millions of euro on fleets of snowploughs and gritters that could well end up becoming expensive white elephants like electronic voting machines, gathering dust in sheds for years to come?