New equipment to help keep Scotland's roads clear this winter is to be unveiled by the transport minister.
Keith Brown will try out one of two new RAIKO Ice Breakers which will be used to break hard-packed sheet ice on key routes.
The Ice Breaker, which is used in Finland and other Scandinavian countries, is part of a range of measures being put in place in case the country sees a return of the severe weather experienced in previous years.
Mr Brown said: "As part of our winter resilience review we carried out a comparison with other countries. One of the main difficulties in 2010 was the hard-packed sheet ice covering the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh which proved very difficult to clear due to extreme low temperatures.
"The Raiko Icebreaker is used in Finland and other Scandinavian countries, and will be a very useful addition if we have to deal with these conditions again."
Other measures include stocks of salt, a strengthened network of weather stations and new cameras to help with decision-making, publication of daily gritting plans and a Freight Scotland hotline to advise of network problems.
Mr Brown added: "Last year we stocked more salt than was used over the whole of the previous winter and published daily gritting plans for trunk road operating companies to give the public more information than ever before about what was happening in their community - we aim to do the same again this year.
"We also have around 70,000 litres of alternative de-icers in stock that will work in the most severe conditions when road salt becomes less effective.
"We have worked with police and freight partners to develop more robust procedures for managing HGVs and buses during severe weather, including new guidance and a hotline so that drivers can alert Traffic Scotland of any problems as soon as they occur.
"The new severe weather information strategy - linked to the Met Office alert system - provides the public with clear guidance on the level of disruption they can expect while new cameras on our roads network and at weather stations have improved the quality of information available."
