Motoring journalist Peter Franzen warns of the perils facing drivers at this time of the year

The chips are down for motorists. I am not talking about the cost of fuel or rampant inflation, but the fact we are in the height of the “chip season”.

Like the first fallen leaves of an unusually hot and dry summer, the signs are everywhere – “20mph skid risk” – as Norfolk roads come under siege by the resurfacing teams that can leave drivers, riders and pedestrians wondering what has hit them.

Broken windscreens, damaged paintwork and possibly a hefty bill can face car drivers, with an added safety risk for motorcyclists who can crash because of accumulated gravel in their path.

The frustration is that many of the issues caused by surface dressing with chippings is caused by thoughtless drivers coming in the opposite direction at speeds in excess of 20mph. My screen was smashed a couple of years back with tar-covered stones flying off the wheels of a passing lorry going too fast.

And while you might be able to get some financial redress from the local authority because of damage caused by potholes or other highway defects, the damage caused by “flying road debris” is clearly excluded in the claims criteria.

Most fully comprehensive car insurance policies will include windscreen cover, but it's always best to check with your individual insurance company as they may differ. Some carry no excess for a new screen, but others may want up to £100 towards the cost.

If the windscreen damage is not too severe (under 10mm) and not in the field of vison for the driver, the damage can be repaired fairly quickly and inexpensively. Getting it fixed can stop the damage expanding into a crack and failing the MOT.

And if you're wondering “does windscreen replacement count as an insurance claim?”, the answer is “yes”, it is classed as a car insurance claim and must be declared when the insurance is renewed. If you change insurers and don’t declare the claim, it can invalidate the policy.

Local authorities surface dress roads with chippings rather than smooth asphalt for the simple reason it is much more cost effective than resurfacing the road.

According to various road authorities in the UK, “Stone Chip Dressing” maximises the use of limited highway maintenance funding (costing only

around one-fifth of conventional resurfacing). Even the simplest and cheapest of the resurfacing treatments is likely to cost four times the rate of surface dressing and the disparity in cost rises to about a factor of twelve for main road resurfacing.

Surface dressing extends the life of roads and provides a new skid-resistant surface to help reduce the risk of accidents. A thin layer of bitumen and chippings is applied to the road, stopping water from penetrating the surface.

This helps reduce the number of potholes forming when it freezes. Surface dressing doesn’t smooth an already uneven road and it is not designed to strengthen the road.

Norfolk County Council argues that the advantages of surface dressing are:

  • The speed they can do the work
  • Minimal traffic disruption
  • Cost effective

It added: “Surface dressing work cannot be done in cold or wet conditions, so we carry out the work between April and September each year. If no repairs are done the road structure could fail, leading to expensive and disruptive reconstruction work.”

In theory, any loose chippings should be swept up after a few days once the traffic has embedded the stones into the road surface, but in the meantime thoughtless drivers can cost you time and money.

If you are one of those who ignore the 20mph advisory sign when travelling on a newly surface-dressed stretch of road, please slow down and show some courtesy to other road users. It won’t delay you much.