Gritting crews ready to roll in Staffordshire
https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/2025/10/26/gritting-crews-ready-to-roll-in-staffordshire/
We're almost wholly a #metric country.
There are about 2 things left that aren't: alcohol for human consumption (even some of that now measured in ml) and road distance and speed limit signs.
Fuel went metric years ago. Tyre pressures are in Pa or Bar; tread depths in mm. Boot capacities and engine capacities are in litres. Even the driver location signs on our motorways are in metric. As are height signs for bridges, multi-storey car parks, and petrol station forecourts.
Construction materials are in metric; and civil engineering, including grit spreading, has been metric for decades.
If you look at #Oxfordshire's "meet the gritters" doco, you'll see that #Keith The Gritter will have a mass in tonnes and a spread width in metres.
Picked at random for comparison, here's North #Yorkshire council measuring salt in tonnes and roads in km:
https://northyorks.gov.uk/roads-parking-and-travel/winter-service/road-gritting
I was initially skeptical. But the more terrible and tortured puns I read, on the FediVerse and elsewhere, the more I am persuaded that #Keith might indeed be a good idea.
If we can have Gordon The Big Engine, and Ivor, we can have Keith The Gritter.
https://letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/name-oxfordshire-s-new-gritters
Spreading smiles - and salt - across Oxfordshire! Last winter, 30 brand-new gritters joined Oxfordshire’s fleet, ready to hit the roads whenever temperatures drop below freezing. These vehicles play a vital role in keeping our county safe - salting over 1,960km of roads
I see the Scottish gritters are out in force again, and you can track them all here: https://www.traffic.gov.scot/gritter-tracker
There's some great names in there, Skate Bush might be my favourite, or maybe Icetalavista Baby.
3/- for those who like to geek out on Scotland’s gritters, you can find the interactive gritter tracker at https://www.traffic.gov.scot/gritter-tracker
I rather like ‘Gritallica’ and ‘I Want to Break Freeze’
It’s that time of year again! Scotland’s quirkily named gritters mapped out for our amusement
The Scottish gritter tracker (https://www.traffic.gov.scot/gritter-tracker) has been around for a while, but today I learned there’s a 3D version!
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/92a86955ebce4fdaa1b8c8798d33697a
It’s delightful
Simon 
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