Huh? Why would it rot or smell? I guess it could, but usually brine is salt and sugar. Not a lot there to rot or smell. Maybe if you used pickle brine that was already used there might be a smell because other things are added, such as garlic, for flavor. Those could smell or rot. I guess the better question is why does it take a teenager to say salt would de-ice roads? That is a given, I thought. What do they use on the roads in Canada? There are a number things that can be used, salt being one of them. Here in SE NC, if they think there might be icing conditions, they spray salt water on the roads. In NE Ohio they use rock salt. I’ve seen places that use cinders, I’ve seen urea used, though to be honest, if you track it into your car, it starts to smell like pee.