We need more extreme weather mobile phone alerts to save lives on UK roads

I thought I knew a bit about driving and parking up in extreme conditions.

I’ve successfully steered myself over the Atlas Mountains of North Africa, the Andes in South America, through remote parts of Australia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and up to the Bridge Of No Return separating South and North Korea. Finland, China and Iceland were tricky. The ice sheet that’s Greenland was almost undriveable. But without a shadow of a doubt, the toughest drive of my life was to Tuktoyaktuk, one of the last Inuit villages at the top of the world. A long, deep, frozen but thawing river was my only ‘road’ in and out.

So having done most of my advanced driver training in places like that, what could possibly go wrong during a gentle road trip to Spain this autumn? Er, plenty, it turns out.

A few days after the apocalyptic flooding that tragically claimed the lives of hundreds of people, plus thousands of vehicles, on the streets and in the car parks of Valencia, the Spanish state was rightly criticised for its failings.

But a few days later again, things were significantly more positive and productive. I heard what I thought was my car’s alarm going off. In fact, it was my mobile phone delivering audible and written warnings – from the Civil Alert Protection agency. It helpfully explained, in Spanish and English, that a ‘Red Alert’ had been issued and that streets and travel routes were no-go.

An emergency number and la junta (local council) website details were included. The tech and authoritative, but calm, tone of the alert were hugely appreciated.

As I parked on the street outside my hotel, a local man kindly checked to make sure that I knew of the emergency warnings. I gave the thumbs-up, and he then insisted I move my car a bit – away from already-overflowing drain covers. Why? Because they were being removed – by the emergency services, local residents or the brutal forces of nature. Who’d have thought it?

Spain is learning valuable lessons following the flood of biblical proportions in Valencia. And I believe that by using phone tech to warn everyone of additional flooding on the streets, further deaths and injuries were prevented.   

Britain’s rain, ice, winds, snow and autumn/winter temperatures are far more brutal than Spain’s. Also, we’re dogged by some famously dodgy water companies and very iffy infrastructure. So when motorists, pedestrians and cyclists are in grave danger on Britain’s crumbling roads and pavements, who’ll be sending us our potentially life-saving Red Alerts via our mobile phones? For the time being at least, nobody.

Since writing this column on November 15 Britain and Brits have been subjected to Arctic-like temperatures as low as minus 11°C, the coldest early winter night recorded since 1998. Despite the extreme, accident-inducing, life-threatening temps and  conditions the UK Government’s so called Emergency Alerts Service has remained idle.