ROAD SURFACES

Evening Star, Issue 25301, 9 October 1944, Page 2

ROAD SURFACES

FLINT DRESSINGS CONDEMNED " SABOTAGE " OF RUBBER TYRES In view of the necessity of conserving motor tyres and the damage that can be caused to pneumatic tyres by the spreading of small flints as a dressing ou ■bitumen-faced roads, it is worthy of°inention, .says the ' Dunlop Bulletin,' that the British Ministry of War Transport recently circularised highway authorities in that country, pointing out that the use of large-sized clippings for the surface treatment of roads was shortening the life of tyres on vehicles. In taking this action the point was stressed that. in. view of the urgent need to conserve rubber, the. road authorities should use smaller clippings where surface dressing was absolutely necessary to prevent the deterioration of the roadway. So serious was the damage to pneumatic tyres by road flints "that the British Ministry of Su.pplv recently paid for an extensive advertising campaign in motoring journals in that country, warning drivers to remove embedded flints to ensure tyre conservation. In touching on this method ot road maintenance, one English authority states that it is difficult to see the object of spreading loose broken gravel known, as "sharps." Jn normal times this practice has numerous disadvantages, but under present war conditions it'almost amounts to sabotage of tyres. This loose material, with its many sharp edges, does not render the roads safer for,their users, and seems to be a most undesirable alternative to making up the surface of the road in the proper manner. Some roads, only a short time after being.so treated are in no'better condition than before. Unless mixed with some binding material and properly rolled in, the "sharps-"'float over the surface under traffic, and for the most part are swept into the gutter by passing vehicles.As the practice of spraying tar on •bitumenised road surfaces and then spreading small sharp flints or broken gravel on the surface of roads—the method employed by many councils and local authorities in this country—is destructive to tyre conservation, maybe the authorities who employ this system of sealing the road surfaces will take, note of Britain's action. is there the necessity in this scientific ago of civil engineering and roadmaking to continue this method ot strewing flints on our roads?