A MOTORIST escaped injury when his car overturned near Carlisle this morning after a night of plummeting temperatures.
It emerged the man’s lucky let-off, while travelling along Brisco Road in a Peugeot vehicle towards the city just before 8-45am, occurred on a route which had not been “pre-salted” overnight.
The shaken driver spoke at the scene of the accident occurring as he approached a right-hand bend. “It was just like being on a piece of glass with no control,” he said. “I don’t know how it’s happened. I can’t explain it. But I’m fine. I’ve been down this road, hundreds, maybe thousands of times. It is a problem at winter time. It’s normally very slippy.”
He believed that stretch of carriageway should “definitely” be gritted more often.
A Cumbria County Council spokesman said: “This road is a Priority 3 gritting route – it is treated when there are prolonged icy conditions but not pre-salted when freezing conditions are forecast.
“The council routinely pre-salts around 2,400km of road in a full gritting run of Priority 1 and 2 routes – approximately one-third of the county’s entire road network. We’d urge all drivers to take extra care when driving in winter conditions, plan their journey ahead by checking the latest forecast information, and ensuring their vehicle is prepared and ready for the winter season – including tyres and air conditioning systems.”
A Cumbria police spokesman said of today’s incident: “The vehicle, which was a black Peugeot saloon, was recovered quickly. No injuries were reported to the driver, who was the sole occupant of the vehicle at the time.”
