New road gritters to make winter travel easier for all

The prospect of driving on slippery roads can be enough to deter owners from hitting the tour trail over the winter months, but National Highways will be rolling out 120 new road gritters in an attempt to keep traffic moving.

A further 132 will be introduced for the 2022-23 winter season too.

The regions that will be benefiting from the new gritters are:

• Kent, Surrey, West and East Sussex – 36 vehicles
• Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, part of Warwickshire, Rutland and part of Oxfordshire – 47 vehicles
• Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire – 28 vehicles
• West Midlands, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and part of North Gloucestershire – 7 vehicles
• Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Avon, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire – 2 vehicles

The vehicles will have technology installed that will keep the drivers up-to-date with exactly which roads or lanes need treating, as well as the specific information to factor in, such as bridges.

Duncan Smith, Acting Executive Director of Operations, commented: “They include state of the art technology allowing us to treat the roads up to a maximum of 50mph, 10mph faster than earlier models. We want everyone to travel safely on our roads and ask that drivers take extra care near gritters, leave a safe distance, overtake gritters carefully when it is safe to do so and at a reduced speed.”

“When the wintry weather arrives our winter teams across the country will be ready to work around the clock to keep traffic moving.”

If you would like tips for driving in extreme weather, be sure to visit our guides for towing your caravan in wet and windy weather and our advice for towing your caravan in snowy conditions.