Petition against bl**dy chippings

Bar Shaker

If you are fed of wishing you had taken your MTB out... and of having your bike shaken to bits for weeks after they have been put done...

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/67408

neal1984

Signed!

Tjgoodhew

Done.

OP I see you are from Essex - i have noticed that pretty much every country road surface is getting resurfaced with this stuff. Most of the roads were perfectly fine before hand too !!!!

chris_bass

At least some of almost all the roads near me have had this done, it is a huge pet hate of mine!

they don't fill in any of the pot holes or rough patches before doing it so the road is just as bad as before its just the worst bits are much harder to spot!

they recently painted the road markings on a section of road a couple of miles from my house and actually painted the white line over a dead fox! good work!

term1te

There's a road near me where they haven't used tar and chippings, they've just cobbled it. Looks like someone went to Brighton beach to get the chips.

majormantra

I don't like bad road surfaces, but I also don't like signing petitions where the author couldn't be arsed to proofread a few lines of text.

Daz555

If they surface dress, can't they come back with a vacuum a week later?

Roberto di Velo

I'm inclined to agree with the gist of that petition, but think it could be better thought out and worded.

I don't think that surface dressing is going to be banned, as it seems to be agreed that it's a cost-effective way of extending a roads functional life, but I think authorities need to give greater consideration to where it is used and on what sorts of roads. On a main road that's been surface dressed it can be worn down to a decent surface in a few weeks, but on the kind of quiet back country roads that I like to ride on, it can take years. So not only is it slow, bumpy and uncomfortable to ride on, but I think they are pretty unsafe given the looseness of the surface.

I had a seriously hairy moment a few months back coming down a big hill that had been surface dressed maybe a couple of months before; although it looked ok on the way down, at the bottom was a sharp right-hand bend which had about an inch of loose gravel sitting on top of it. I pulled a bit of a motorcross skid, but was lucky to stay on.

IanRCarter

I've had one done by me recently, it was one of the best roads in the area in terms of quality, a few holes but nothing too bad. The road it joins onto, however, it one of the worst in the area, but they haven't done that. That one gets flooded when we have a lot of rain, so my assumption is that as that road takes more abuse, they've left it and resurfaced the good road because that won't need doing as often, saving the council money. The road that has been done is fairly quiet, they haven't bothered sweeping it even though it's been a few weeks, so it hasn't been flattened by vehicles properly because there haven't been enough using it and it's covered in gravel.

Do we as cyclists get an opinion on this matter though? We don't pay road tax remember

debeli

I cannot support the petition. I dislike cycling (and driving) over roads where loose aggregates have been spread, but I dislike many things that are a mild inconvenience.

That in itself is no reason to stomp and bluster and fire off petitions (well written or otherwise).

My MTB is perfectly capable of dealing with a chip-splattered surface, as are my shopper and my fixed. The poncy road bike is jittery on loose surfaces, but if that's what I'm on then I'm as much a fool as the Ferrari driver who scrapes his spoilers on kerbs and sleeping policemen.

If I were to sign a petition about anything it would be the weather (which has been very inconsistent lately) or the extraordinary casual racism of UKIP representatives who seem to think that an apology wipes the slate and deletes any underlying xenophobic feelings they are trying so hard to hide.

But stone chips on the road? No....

tonybied

Debeli wrote:

I cannot support the petition. I dislike cycling (and driving) over roads where loose aggregates have been spread, but I dislike many things that are a mild inconvenience.

That in itself is no reason to stomp and bluster and fire off petitions (well written or otherwise).

My MTB is perfectly capable of dealing with a chip-splattered surface, as are my shopper and my fixed. The poncy road bike is jittery on loose surfaces, but if that's what I'm on then I'm as much a fool as the Ferrari driver who scrapes his spoilers on kerbs and sleeping policemen.

If I were to sign a petition about anything it would be the weather (which has been very inconsistent lately) or the extraordinary casual racism of UKIP representatives who seem to think that an apology wipes the slate and deletes any underlying xenophobic feelings they are trying so hard to hide.

But stone chips on the road? No....

So your solution is we should stop riding "poncy road bikes" on roads!

darkhairedlord

tonybied wrote:

Debeli wrote:

I cannot support the petition. I dislike cycling (and driving) over roads where loose aggregates have been spread, but I dislike many things that are a mild inconvenience.

That in itself is no reason to stomp and bluster and fire off petitions (well written or otherwise).

My MTB is perfectly capable of dealing with a chip-splattered surface, as are my shopper and my fixed. The poncy road bike is jittery on loose surfaces, but if that's what I'm on then I'm as much a fool as the Ferrari driver who scrapes his spoilers on kerbs and sleeping policemen.

If I were to sign a petition about anything it would be the weather (which has been very inconsistent lately) or the extraordinary casual racism of UKIP representatives who seem to think that an apology wipes the slate and deletes any underlying xenophobic feelings they are trying so hard to hide.

But stone chips on the road? No....

So your solution is we should stop riding "poncy road bikes" on roads!

horses for courses, change the tyres to suit the road rather than change the road to suit the tyres? outrageous. :shock:

petition signed!

foot_loose

Signed

6wheels

Signed.

rolf_f

Debeli wrote:

I cannot support the petition. I dislike cycling (and driving) over roads where loose aggregates have been spread, but I dislike many things that are a mild inconvenience.

That in itself is no reason to stomp and bluster and fire off petitions (well written or otherwise).

My MTB is perfectly capable of dealing with a chip-splattered surface, as are my shopper and my fixed. The poncy road bike is jittery on loose surfaces, but if that's what I'm on then I'm as much a fool as the Ferrari driver who scrapes his spoilers on kerbs and sleeping policemen.

If I were to sign a petition about anything it would be the weather (which has been very inconsistent lately) or the extraordinary casual racism of UKIP representatives who seem to think that an apology wipes the slate and deletes any underlying xenophobic feelings they are trying so hard to hide.

But stone chips on the road? No....

Signed.

My objection to them is that it is a waste of council tax money. They spend a lot of money to put down a surface that is, in the short term, mildly better than what was there before, only for one bad winter to make it worse than it was before. The road above mine was done last year. it was breaking up before they'd even managed to get the markings painted..... And never mind they never properly swept the chippings up which are still forcing me further into the road than I'd like.

Basically, I think the council has better things to do with its money than spend it on making road surfaces worse. I'd rather dodge potholes on a proper tarmac surface than endure a chipped surface.

rolf_f

Chris Bass wrote:

they recently painted the road markings on a section of road a couple of miles from my house and actually painted the white line over a dead fox! good work!

To be fair, the dead fox is probably a more durable road surface than the chippings.

Mikey23

Signed

drummer_boy

Just had to ride over mounds of loose chippings on my way in to work this morning, very dangerous on the busy road. I ride through 3 councils areas on my way to work, and it's interesting to see how they do the surface dressing differently. By that I mean 2 out of the 3 councils, has a road sweeper follow the chipping layer, very shortly after. The 3rd council doesn't. By the 2nd day after dressing all the chippings are on the bit of the road a bike would want to use, making it a very loose gravel track.

jermas

Signed. Another problem with the surface dressing I've noticed, is that after a dryer/warmer summer, the tar has risen leaving the roads polished and shiny. Last week after some light rain I crashed (bike) on a junction - sliding like on black ice! I was riding safely with good tyres, but the road had zero grip.

mamba80

That could have happened on diesel, crashes happen, I once broke my collar bone on a speed bump, shitte happens but I don't expect everyone to sign a stupid petition)

the objective is to seal the road surface against further erosion (that's not to say they always do a great job every time) the alternative is to put down a traditional surface at substantial cost, which we as tax payers wont fund.
Local government has no money, they have had their grant from central government slashed, child and adult social care, schools, libraries you name it, its been cut (aside from the CEOs wages and councillors expenses account) road surfaces are way down the list of priorities.

I don't like these surfaces anymore than anyone else but I just take a detour, until they settle down and the chipping are swept up.

rolf_f

mamba80 wrote:

the objective is to seal the road surface against further erosion (that's not to say they always do a great job every time) the alternative is to put down a traditional surface at substantial cost, which we as tax payers wont fund.

I don't like these surfaces anymore than anyone else but I just take a detour, until they settle down and the chipping are swept up.

And then you are left with a dreadful surface that quickly degrades exposing the original potholes which are now deeper due to having a higher top surface.

If the councils are so short of money they just shouldn't do this - most of the time it is actively making the existing surface worse (which in many cases wasn't too bad anyway). I'd rather they spent the same amount of money doing a smaller number of roads properly.

As a method, it simply doesn't work adequately. Patch repairs with proper tarmac may themselves be unsatisfactory but at least only the potholed area is affected. Chippings badly repair holes that need repairing but also make a mess of the rest of the road that wasn't in poor condition in the first place.

slowbike

Around us they seem to go through and patch areas of the road - usually the not so bad bits and forget the bad bits, then once they've done that they put the chippings down ... and it does take several weeks for the busy roads to become reliable surfaces again.
The road I use to work doesn't have a suitable detour - it's an extra 5 or 10 miles to go one of two other routes - which is 50-100% extra distance - so not much option - especially if they're chipping roads on those routes too ... So for those commutes I swap out the road tyres for the CX tyres and carry on carefully.

The bit that really annoyed me was a section of the TT course - they resurfaced it with new tarmac - excellent - then a few weeks later they chipped it Given the number of tax-paying competitors we have you'd think they'd just give us a decent surface for the route ...

debeli

tonybied wrote:

So your solution is we should stop riding "poncy road bikes" on roads!

Not at all. I do ride my poncy road bike on the road. My three children (all now teens or older) ride nothing but slightly poncy road bikes, on nothing but roads.

But... if there is a crickly or grunghley surface I'd ride round it, take a detour or use a more suitable bicycle.

In my motorcycling days I took a detour to ride over the Col de Mont Cenis, as I'd done so previously and loved it. I was on an traditional Italian 'lugga-lugga-grrr' twin with clip-ons and no luggage. When I got there, the whole French side (my descent) had been resurfaced and was covered in stone chips. At the time I was cross... but in truth it's just another of the very minor things that life and local authorities throw at us to make life more amusing.

handful

Chippings have been a pet hate of mine since coming off on a newly treated road on a motorbike once many years ago. Warning signs weren't placed until I was on a right hand turn at the point the chippings started and I slid for a good distance and ended up with a load of small stones being driven under my skin around my ankle (stupidly not wearing boots that day, another story) Very, very painful and I have always thought road builders/ planners should have to ride motorbikes/bikes on roads before making decisions on how they should maintain them. What with diesel spillages, wet leaves, white lines, drain covers, pot holes and cow sh1te to contend with it only adds insult to injury to then put chippings down, IMO.

Signed btw

mamba80

I cant say what other councils do, but cornwall normally patches the road up and then re seals the surface with tar/fine chippings, West Devon does the same, once the road has settled down, its an ok surface.
as I said, they tend to do short sections at a time, so just detour round?
the real issue is the lack of general funding for road mtce, that's an idea for a real petition.

drlodge

I agree the real problem is with the lack of funding available to maintain the roads. I don't have an issue with chippings if properly laid but (a) the chippings are simply put down without fixing the underlying road and (b) the amount of loose chippings that remain for some weeks that are downright dangerous.

lakesluddite

Signed.

Not bad enought that this stuff is now all over my local roads (South Cumbria), but my place of work (University campus) has had it put down on the car park and surrounding lanes! I've just come back from a walk through to reception and had to pick out six or seven chippings that were stuck to my soles by the tar!