Assignment 2- article 2

How the cold weather affects...

I have already looked at how the weather affects the elderly and I wanted to take a completely different slant on the question and decided to look at how the weather affected the roads.

I had a pre-conception that a lot more accidents would occur in the winter due to icy road surfaces and poor weather conditions but was surprised to find that this wasn't necessarily the case.

I spoke to Emma Reynolds who works for the Road Safety department of the Lancashire County Council to ask her about how drivers, cyclists and pedestrians can all be affected by the winter weather.

Making sure you have plenty of time for your journey is essential things like de-icing the car and scraping ice of the windows takes time.

"Drivers take notice of the weather conditions, get up a bit earlier so you can de-ice your car and you can make a slower journey", said Emma.

"Ask yourself at the end of the day is your journey really essential?" She added.

Keeping your distance between the car behind you is also essential because stopping distance can be affected by slippery road surfaces. Checking your car thoroughly before a journey is useful. Check the amount of water, oil, electric and check all your tyres.

“ Check that your tyres have plenty of tread depth as well and enough air pressure because if it’s very icy and you’re likely to be skidding around it’s very important that your tyres are at the correct measure of tread to stop you from skidding as much”, Emma continued.

Although she told me that there weren’t that many more incidents to occur in the winter in Preston, she also told of some useful safety tips for pedestrians and cyclists:

“Pedestrians be safe and be seen. If you have any kind of reflective clothing that you can wear- strap bands, reflective capes, it’s difficult in dark nights and mornings for drivers to see you so be aware of that”

“Cyclists should also make sure they’re seen by wearing reflective clothing and having the bright white light at the front and the red light at the back of their bike.”

It was surprising to here that there isn’t that many more road accidents in the winter, as I presumed with the harsher weather conditions there would be. Having said that, it can only be beneficial to take on board safety advice given to you.

Another interesting point Emma made was that it’s not necessarily the roads that are the problem; it’s just as much irresponsible drivers who can be at fault:

“Is there such thing as a dangerous road? You can do as much as you can to make a road safer but at the end of the day if drivers are going to take risks then it isn’t going to make a lot of difference.”

I made the google map after looking at this article.


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For more information on the subject. I used this website which I found useful.

Assignment 2- article 1

Assignment 2: How the cold weather affects...

The cold weather can be severe. Illnesses spread like wild fire and financial worries can get you down. I wanted to see how the cold winter would have an affect on the elderly so I went to a nursing home in Penwortham to find out.

The severe winter weather can particularly affect the elderly as they have weaker immune systems. Care homes aren’t immune from the knock on effect of winter weather. In communal living, illness can easily be spread by visitors coming in.

“We encourage residents to have flu and pneumonia vaccinations”, said Chris Mellor, Manager of Priory Lane Care Home.

“Once there is an outbreak, it’s difficult to stop it spreading”, she added.

Common illnesses the elderly contract are flu and the Norovirus, a vomiting and diarrhoea bug. These can be more serious in an elderly person because of a weaker immune system:

“Their immune systems don’t function like that of a younger person. Hearts and other organs don’t work as effectively and most of them have some sort of circulation impairment due to their age”, Mrs Mellor added.

It’s not just care homes that are affected in the winter, elderly people living in the community have a lot of things to worry about and it’s not just illness. Old people worry about money and fuel prices have risen recently. Even though people are receiving more money from the government, the money will not compensate them.

If people can’t afford the gas and electricity bills, it can result in poor heating in the home. Hypothermia is common due to a lack of heating, even a cold can become a more dangerous chest infection.

"Unless they are seen regularly by a G.P. people won't get the vaccinations they need", Mrs Mellor said.

Keeping warm and eating well are vital ways for elderly people to stay well through winter. I found some information about vaccines here and for more information on this subject, I found this to be a useful website.