[Gromiaaborn]

Passing through Braintree this morning, there are two roundabouts near each other that I need to take. The first, comes off a 60mph road and has good visibility, so taking it a little faster than normal is no problem usually. I needed to take the first exit, so I enter at ~25mph, then turn left. Except the car doesn't turn left, just goes straight on. Feeling huge understeer, I pull hard right and just about manage to follow the roundabout round, while constantly sliding wider. By now I have loss a good deal of speed and just about manage to have the grip to take the exit I need.

So why did the road feel like sheet ice? Well, it was damp, which isn't usually a problem, but there was a thick layer of oil sitting on top of the water. Oil really means no grip at all, scary stuff indeed [shocked]

As I said though, there was a second roundabout nearby, which I approached slowly. Sure enough, there was also a load of oil on the road here too. Pulling away the wheels just spun up

I'm surprised there was no serious accidents there, least I didn't see anything on my return home. Just glad when it happened to me there was no one else around.

[Maribellin]

Imagine if you had been riding a motorbike [no]

No doubt from a hgv

[Arbinknit]

Imagine if you had been riding a motorbike [no]

No doubt from a hgv

Yep. Diesel spill probably.

[unapelosina]

Could also have been some little shits dumping the oil to cause an accident - see any hanging around?
next time you, or anyone else, comees upon a spill or other material on the roads, call the local traffic/Police department immediately. You could save someone from serious injury or worse.

[Gromiaaborn]

Could also have been some little shits dumping the oil to cause an accident - see any hanging around?
next time you, or anyone else, comees upon a spill or other material on the roads, call the local traffic/Police department immediately. You could save someone from serious injury or worse.

That did kinda occur to me later at work, but it was a bit late then really.

[cheesypeetyz]

oil may have remained on the tyres causing the problem again

[Rwujnezq]

Seems to be a growning problem in the UK, scroats put diesel on the roads when it has just rained and sit back and watch people crash.

Happened on a blind corner near where I work the other day, a guy skidded off and snapped his wheel off on the kerb.

[cheesypeetyz]

having said that i went round a roundabout at what i thought was a reasonable speed after rain on weds, not a small roundabout and i felt the car slide a very small amount but that could have been the damp road tbh

[unapelosina]

Sod fox hunting - Scroat hunting is the way to go!

[Rwujnezq]

having said that i went round a roundabout at what i thought was a reasonable speed after rain on weds, not a small roundabout and i felt the car slide a very small amount but that could have been the damp road tbh

Thats just from the sludge you get after rain when you get a long dry spell before. The raid lifts all the grease to the surface of the water and the water mixes with the dust and crap from the tyres which makes a soap like mixture.

Good fun if you are expecting it

[maclaudser]

same kind of thing happens all the time here in spain - I have a Jeep Ckre. laredo - and seems the watering systems the town puts in waters the roads more than the plants, + a lot of traffic - many diesil cars shooting exhaust @ the ground + almost, never ever rains + roundabouts @ 90% of all intersections = very bad. And scooters and motorcycles are huge here. Sometimes I even manage to swing back out on my jeep - and rarly - motos in front of me lose it, bail - and ya almost end up turning fools into roadkill who were going way to fast with unpresidented over-confidence- weaving in&out between cars - hit one of these spots - and bail - 80% of the time without a helmet. But it's just a part of driving - it what seperates the good drivers from the bad. I was a ski instructor up at greek peak in upstate NY growing up - you get real used to crappy conditions driving in and out of a ski resort 6 days a week for 10 years - but people down here go through their entire lives without seeing a flake of snow - so they have no clue what to do their car starts sliding out from under them - front or rear wheel drive wouldn't matter to them - they just freezeup till its over.
Ed. - in a front wheel drive car you auctually want to give it a **moderate** ammount of gas - so the front tires pull the rear back behind you - and I'd say 95% of people's 1'st reaction is to slam on the brakes - making the car continue in the same direction or exacerbating the problem - sideways off the road - or into the car in the outside lane.

[cheesypeetyz]

Thats just from the sludge you get after rain when you get a long dry spell before. The raid lifts all the grease to the surface of the water and the water mixes with the dust and crap from the tyres which makes a soap like mixture.

Good fun if you are expecting it

yeah i knew that, wasn't and have written off a car that way before