Reflecting on a plowing problem
Picture in your mind a scene you’ve probably experienced many times: You’re driving or riding in the front seat of a vehicle at night, in the winter, on a two-lane road, and a snowplow truck is coming at you going the other way.
The plow truck’s lights show you it’s there, and how tall it is, but you’re literally in the dark on some critical information: how wide the plow blade is, and how much, if at all, it’s sticking into your lane to clear the centerline.
If the upper left corner of the plow blade had some kind of reflective marker, oncoming drivers could see where it ended. As it is, one often can’t see the plow edge until the last second or so before passing it.
Do you know what we mean? As a driver, it can be stressful — especially if it’s dumping snow. Visibility is terrible, roads are greasy, and you’re trying to stick to the tire tracks left by previous vehicles. If you suddenly swerve from those tracks to dodge an oncoming plow blade, a skid could send you into a ditch — or, worse, an oncoming vehicle following the plow.
That’s a driver’s fear, anyway. We’re not sure how many crashes and collisions are related to invisible plow edges. Nevertheless, we figure anything that makes white-knuckled drivers more nervous is a problem.
We also believe the solution is cheap and easy: Just put something reflective to mark the corner of the blade.
Not being plow drivers ourselves, we asked a couple of experts: Craig Donaldson, longtime highway superintendent for the town of Harrietstown, and Rob Haynes, head of the state Department of Transportation units that plow state highways in Franklin County. It seemed like it wasn’t a question they had gotten before.
Both men said their departments’ trucks have flexible posts marking the corners of their plow blades. These posts are bright orange, but they aren’t reflective, so they won’t necessarily show up in headlights at night.
Both men also mentioned reflective tape, which they said is generally put on the sides of trucks. Mr. Donaldson, however, said his staff sometimes puts it on the plow blade edges as well. We think that should be done on all state and municipal plows.
Mr. Donaldson confirmed what we had suspected: It would be a waste of money to put lights instead of reflectors on plow tips. He said some Vermont crews use LED flashing lights, “which is a good idea, but man, do they take a beating.” He said the lights tend to break quickly with the heavy vibration of the steel blade.
The flexible posts, on the other hand, are sturdy and cost no more than $35, he said.
“They last,” he said. “We’ve had them on there for years.”
Likewise, Mr. Donaldson said reflective tape on the plow blade holds up all winter, pretty much.
Mr. Haynes was also receptive to the question and thoughtful in his answers, although we’re not sure he was entirely convinced.
“We’re hoping when (drivers) do see the large truck with the flashing lights, they do move a little bit away from centerline,” he said. “When we’re out there plowing, there’s a lot of snow that’s flying up, and I’m not 100 percent sure what effectiveness a reflector would have.”
We suspect most plow drivers don’t realize what they look like to oncoming drivers. We suggest they start using inexpensive reflective tape, which they already have in stock, to mark the top left corners of their plow blades, then test it themselves, as oncoming drivers, to see if it makes a difference. If so, perhaps the next step would be reflective posts on the plow corners.
It’s worth trying.