WORCESTERSHIRE Highways has added an extra layer of technology to its gritting teams as they head out to cover the county’s roads.

All of the gritting fleet have been equipped with on-board technology, which can calculate the road temperatures and how much salt is needed to be spread.

The technology is designed to reduce the potential waste of salt for Worcestershire, along with methods to introduce brine to the mixture, making the salt spread less likely to bounce off the carriageways.

The vehicles have also been fitted with snowploughs to clear the roads more efficiently.

Councillor John Smith OBE, county council cabinet member for highways, said: "Our gritting teams do a fantastic job each winter working to keep our roads safe when temperatures drop, most of the time when we're all tucked up in bed.

"Although the crews head out during the winter months planning takes place all year around and over the last couple of years we've been one of the first in the country to introduce new technologies to make the operation more efficient. Not only does this improve the treatment of our roads but it also helps save the taxpayer money too.

"We'll be employing all of these improvements over the coming months as the crews treat thousands of miles of road when freezing conditions bite."

This year depots in Worcestershire are stocked with 15,000 tonnes of salt, which is distributed whenever temperatures drop below freezing. The county's gritting routes cover approximately 1,500 miles.

For further information about the county's gritting operation please visit worcestershire.gov.uk/gritting or follow the #GritterTwitter hashtag @worcscc.