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It is purely a financial thing. 
Once upon a time buying and spreading salt-grit was seen as a normal council function and they had lots of lorries and workmen available to do it when needed, said workmen being augmented by other council manual labour employees if needed.
The definition of when needed was more in line with the travelling public as well, it was done as a preventative measure when snow was expected.
Nowadays, salt is expensive, the contractors employed by councils need to make a profit, accountants get annoyed if salt is wasted by being spread in expectation of snow that does not arrive and there is no slack available as employees all have work to do or are employed by contractors.
Each fatal traffic accident costs society £1,500,000.00 Source BBC So what does a non-fatal one cost on average, perhaps £10,000.00?
Personally I reckon it is cheaper to the overall UK economy for councils to be a bit more "wasteful" of salt.
Thus saving all of us extra hours of vehicle engines running, accident repair costs and wasted time. Sadly councils have to (and can only) look at their budgets, balancing the income from central government with the council tax charge, to decide if they can afford more gritting. Councils don't have to reimburse you for three extra hours of driving or repairs to your car after it slid off the road, so it does not enter their calculations.
Once upon a time buying and spreading salt-grit was seen as a normal council function and they had lots of lorries and workmen available to do it when needed, said workmen being augmented by other council manual labour employees if needed.
The definition of when needed was more in line with the travelling public as well, it was done as a preventative measure when snow was expected.
Nowadays, salt is expensive, the contractors employed by councils need to make a profit, accountants get annoyed if salt is wasted by being spread in expectation of snow that does not arrive and there is no slack available as employees all have work to do or are employed by contractors.
Each fatal traffic accident costs society £1,500,000.00 Source BBC So what does a non-fatal one cost on average, perhaps £10,000.00?
Personally I reckon it is cheaper to the overall UK economy for councils to be a bit more "wasteful" of salt.
Thus saving all of us extra hours of vehicle engines running, accident repair costs and wasted time. Sadly councils have to (and can only) look at their budgets, balancing the income from central government with the council tax charge, to decide if they can afford more gritting. Councils don't have to reimburse you for three extra hours of driving or repairs to your car after it slid off the road, so it does not enter their calculations.
..jacob
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