He said the council team had been “working their socks off” in extremely difficult conditions during the recent big freeze.
In his latest weekly blog, Independent Cllr Reid said: “Many folk have chosen to use Facebook to complain about an alleged lack of gritting.
“The reality is that the NAC gritting team have continually been out and about every night and every day working their socks off to grit our roads.
“We have over 1,000km of roads and the team cover North Ayrshire in its entirety. Moreover, with financial cutbacks over the past 10 years, we have fewer in the team than ever.”
Councillor Donald L Reid (Image: NAC) The councillor added: “What I would stress once again is that gritting does not in itself result in safer roads and pavements. It is not a panacea.
“It helps, but folk still need to take personal responsibility asking the question, ‘Is it safe and sensible to venture out on foot or in cars when black ice is so prevalent?’ The gritter passing along any particular street does not mean that it is magically safe.
“Our NAC gritting teams do a difficult and demanding job running between their base in Kilwinning and gritting Garnock Valley streets then returning to base to replenish their vehicles before returning to continue gritting locally. It all takes time and the main radial routes have priority to keep them open.
“The team also managed to replenish many of the grit bins locally and in my view they did a very good job in difficult circumstances.
“Some of the comments on Facebook were in very poor taste and showed a lack of understanding of the sheer scale of the problem with black ice.”
Cllr Reid said he had written to the senior manager in the authority’s roads department to pass on his thanks to the staff for their work in the Garnock Valley in very extreme weather circumstances.
He added: “This was illustrated when one of the gritting vehicles slid into a ditch in Barrmill. Thankfully there were no injuries to the crew, but it does demonstrate just how widespread, severe and really dangerous the black ice was last week.
“Let’s all be a wee bit more understanding of the challenges facing the gritting teams. They do their level best, regularly going the extra mile as they, too, want to ensure that roads remain open for all.
“All of us, who are fit and able, can also help by putting salt/grit down and using the local grit bins to make our own pavements safer and perhaps ensuring that neighbours who may not be able to this have their pavements gritted.”