As temperatures drop over the winter months, roads will become icy and as ever, Hampshire Highways will be on constant standby, ready to salt roads when road surface temperatures are forecast to drop to zero or below.
Ahead of the winter highways response, 18 of our gritter drivers on the Hampshire Highways contract took part in an Advanced Gritter Driving training course, delivered by our training partners, R3 Road Risk Reduction.
The session involved a combination of various driving disciplines and theory exercises, allowing drivers to ‘get-it-wrong’ in safety, so they will be better prepared for driving in icy and snowy conditions to keep control of the vehicle; as well know how to react appropriately to keep themselves and other road users safe should they get into difficulty when out treating the network.
All the R3 Team are professional drivers with many years of experience having been skilled drivers for the Police, Armed Forces, and HGV drivers from the freight and construction industries. The team also includes a professional racing instructor.
Councillor Nick Adams-King, Hampshire County Council’s Executive Member for Highways Operations, joined the Hampshire Highways drivers to see the training in action, first hand. He said: “It is one thing driving in hazardous conditions in a passenger vehicle but quite another managing a heavy goods vehicle filled with road salt. Advanced training like this, for our new HGV drivers, is crucial to ensure Hampshire Highways gritting lorries are in the best hands when out in often difficult conditions salting Hampshire’s network to keep Hampshire moving.”
Hampshire Highways is the collaborative partnership between Hampshire County Council and Milestone Infrastructure, delivering planned and reactive highways maintenance across the local authority’s 5,500 mile local public highway network.
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