To think pouring water on your icy car is just selfish?

[7hup]

Just fell on my face outside a neighbour who must have done this early morning.

So a stream of ice running across the pavement to the road which I didn't see

I fell hard. Am OK but if I were elderly or more fragile I could have bad injuries.

At least salt the pavement after!

I’m another that didn’t realise this causes problems. Never done it. Bloody hate the ice though! I happen to keep a scraper in my door ready for it but I can see why people would use hot water, I’d be worried for my car though.

@Eliza9917 I’m near the sea. Very near. My windows froze on my car and wouldn’t open my normal defrosting technique for car windows

I just pour cold water on then use a windscreen wiper to scrape off the sludge (the kind you use to clean your windows) I have a drive that slopes down so no risk of causing ice for anyone to slip on. Not that I use enough that I'd even cause a puddle I think.
Never thought of this actually! I'll be watching where I'm walking from now on.

slush

I wouldn't of even thought of doing this. What's wrong with a good old fashioned ice scrapper and some deicer? Haha.

Why aren’t people just spraying it with de-icer?

It doesn't work like it used to. Presumably they've made it environmentally friendly and less harmful. In a hard frost, the windscreen just ices up again and it causes the inside to mist over or even ice up. The problem is that it doesn't increase the temperature of the windscreen, so doesn't actually solve the problem, i.e. the cold windscreen in the first place.

I have never done this (old blanket works a treat). However, also never made the connection about it possibly causing problems for other people! YANBU OP. It's selfish, but perhaps neighbour doesn't realise?

In a hard frost, the windscreen just ices up again and it causes the inside to mist over or even ice up

I have never had that happen with the one I use - its wonder stuff

Car engine on, quick spritz and off we go (I do have very efficient heaters though!).

@bumblebeeez yeah, we still get ice on windows actually, I'd never thought about that - but it takes more for snow to settle.

Hope you are ok OP, that sounds like a crappy way to start your day.

The AA says it isn't a good idea, so do Autoglass and a number of insurers.

Always seemed like a stupid idea to me. I can clear a windscreen with a credit card quicker than it takes to boil a kettle, go outside with it and create a slipping hazard. Did it all through Beast from the East and the various icy/snowy winters we've had.

are-icer and a scraper attached to a glove (they cost about £1) are the way forward and all you need!

Some absolute idiot at the bottom of our street which is on a very sharp corner with cars all around was washing his motor home. He wasn't going anywhere in it or anything. There was no reason except that he liked to keep it spick and span even in winter. He does it all the time. So there he was, merrily spraying the hosepipe for god knows how long, making a large 5ft wide impassible area across the pavement and the road at the bottom of his drive. Pedestrians couldn't even use the other side of the toad as there is no path at all.
I spent day's hand clearing the road and pavement with a snow shovel (whilst the whole street watched, sitting doing fuck all, grumbling about not being able to drive or walk because of the snow!) and putting buckets of grit down people's paths and the pavement. I had no more grit left by the time that had frozen.

His 'ice rink' caused a small number of minor bumps to his road parking neighbours cars and I doubt he even cared enough to notice.

I've used water before now when the scraper hasn't been able to cut through but the water only goes into a channel down the edge of the road and makes no slippy patches. Anyone wilfully causing ice should be fined or something. It's dangerous. I'll bet there's some law somewhere covering it.

Did anyone else see the fb video where someone was using a carrier bag of warm water to defrost their screen. Passed it up and down the screen. Solves both problems. I thought very clever if it actually works

It's quite a stupid thing to do, and countless folks do this. Pouring warm water over their windscreen with little regard for what happens to that water 10 minutes later.

Deicer works well (but I can appreciate some folks not wanting to use such products), failing that, the good old scraper.

I use a small bottle of lukewarm water and there’s never any overspill, it’s just enough to over the windscreen. Means I can leave without having the engine running for ages at the crack of dawn which would wake all my neighbours up.

I use warm water on my windscreen. Fast and effective. I only use a small amount through not a bucket load. No run off

I tried de-icer and scraper this morning and it only cleared the top, it was about half a centimetre thick of clear ice! So I resorted to luke warm water from the tap to clear what was left... But it was on my drive, not the road, so no extra ice anywhere near the pavement or road to make people slip.

I live somewhere where ice on car windows is an issue for about 5 months of the year. No-one either puts water on their windows or uses de-icer. I don't really understand why these are seen as the only two option on these threads.

What everyone here does is put a cover over their front window (like an old blanket or cardboard), which usually stops the the ice forming, and then an ice-scraper. With a good ice-scraper it really only takes a couple of minutes to do all the windows. There are some rubbish ice-scrapers out there, so try different types to find a good one. Seriously, try it. It is a much better way to deal with the whole problem.

Yabu imo. Having navigated a 30min each way school run on foot this morning I’ve nearly fallen over about 10 times. I couldn’t tell you which patches of ice are frozen puddles, which are a result of people de-icing their cars and which bits are just iced pavement. I think people need to take responsibility for wearing decent shoes and walking carefully in weather like this. And anyone elderly or with mobility problems would be taking their life in their hands to walk anywhere other than the gritted main roads.
You seem to have a very clear view of the size and shape of the patch of ice now and where it extends to. If you had paid more attention at the time you might not have fallen. It’s expected in this temperature that it will be slippy underfoot. It’s icy - you slipped - it happens. Don’t be that person who looks to blame everyone but themselves.

My car is a hundred million years old so it freezes up on the inside as well as the outside (which is actually more of a problem as you obviously can't spray de-icer on the inside). I use tepid water on the outside which goes some way to clearing the inside too. To be honest, if it was cold enough for my water to freeze on the road, there will already be ice on the road anyway.

I'm halfway to work before the heater is warm enough to make any difference so I'd have to start the car about 20 minutes before I want to leave and we all know how popular that is don't we?!

My neighbour uses a spray bottle of hot water and scrapper and no puddle but the guy across the just chucks a bucket first on front window then the rear. Probably 10 litres of water that has to go somewhere.

I use warm water on a jay cloth. So I dunk the cloth and wipe the screen. Nothing goes on the road/pavement at all.

And anyone elderly or with mobility problems would be taking their life in their hands to walk anywhere other than the gritted main roads

How are you suggesting the elderly or infirm get to the main roads...

I think we ALL have a responsibility to be neighbourly and mindful. And that includes not doing things that could either cause or add to a dangerous situation?

YANBU. A decent scraper and a very good de-icer has always worked for me.

I know people don’t want to have to get up 10/15 minutes earlier to clear their cars without causing a hazard to others but it’s life. It annoys me as I like my warm bed but it’s not every single day of my life and I bring a cereal bar as breakfast while I’m clearing the car, so I save time.

Just use a scraper, takes 2 mins, quicker than boiling a kettle!