Seeing beyond the obvious.

Every year at about this time, we get assurances from our local authorities that they are well stocked up with rock-salt, they have gritters on standby, they have learned from past mistakes, and that this year there will be no chaos on the roads caused by bad weather. And then what happened on Friday in Cornwall happens.... Is it that they are seeking to solve the wrong problem? As I understand it, the situation in Cornwall was not directly caused by the weather, but by an accident which blocked the road (possibly caused by the weather). In other words, the sort of thing which could happen at any time, and which inevitably would cause long tailbacks. What the authorities should perhaps be asking themselves is - have we got any contingency plans in place to deal with long tailbacks in freezing weather? Clearly Cornwall hadn't.