With the recent cold snap raising the issue of snowy and icy driving conditions yet again, it's being claimed that a lot of the problem is down to our drivers rather than Manx roads.

Director of Works for the Department of Transport, Clive Collister, says even when conditions are poor and roads are slippery, many drivers continue to drive at their normal speeds - leading to accidents. This leads to routes such as the Mountain road then being closed by police for safety reasons.

Mr Collister (pictured) says his department has plenty of equipment to keep roads passable, though there's little point in comparing the Island's roads directly with other countries in Europe, where traffic continues to flow despite long periods of considerably worse weather: