Proper snow plowing etiquette.........

[Tomtint]

JayLegger - I guess we aren't used to "snow left on the road" because even after a county plow we are left with 1-4" of snow, ice, slush that often remains on the ground for weeks at a time. This year has been the worst with the REALLY cold December for us leaving ice/snow on the road for about 5 weeks!

Like you, myself and neighbors regularly plow the roads down to within 1" of asphalt... (really as close as we can get) the county repairs our roads yearly where the plows accidentally rip off the asphalt. My first year swapping from my ATV to tractor I almost tore the entire road up from my driveway across it due to a chunk the county plow had taken out :-X whoops! Repaired next year.

My driveway is pretty long, dirt/mud off-camber, and up hill... as soon as we can afford to pave it I want to get a blower for the front of my M59 Then I plan to plow around 100' of road in front of my house since we live on a turn with 4' dirt wall the plow has no choice but to block about 1/4 of the road with the built-up snow, and shove a lot up my driveway!


How is the blower vs the plow in regard to getting down to asphalt?

I had to stop using the ATV after 1 year since it wore out all 4 springs, CV belt, and on bad days the snow would just go over the top of the plow onto me, lol. I`ll try to find some pics.

That weather has to make for a tough commute to work everyday!

 

[metalmann]

city people are some of the worst. They have this lovely habit of taking all the snow from around their cars they park in the street and piling it in the middle of the street. I once spent an hour getting a honda dug out that got stuck in the street on a hill (during a declared state of emergency) while visiting my in laws so the city blow trucks could even get down the street, only to watch a neighbor dump all the snow from their car into the street where another car got stuck immediately. they woke up the next day to their car sitting on a 2 foot high snow mound with all 4 wheels off the ground.

 

[Thomas]

We got some ding dongs out here in the country also.

This guy stop in middle country road one morning clean snow of his shiney black SUV one morning from top to bottom,he motions me to go around like he was doing no wrong.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

I'm with LD1. People are morons.

I clear 125 driveways every snow fall, often 2 or 3 times per snow 'cause people complain that they can't get out of their driveway with 3" of snow on it. If they can't get thru the 3" on thier driveway, how are they going to get thru the 3" on the road?? Most of the time it only takes me 30 seconds to clear a lane yet I'll get people that won't wait for me to finish before they pull out/in of the garage. We get people that will call in to complain if a single flake of their neighbour's snow ends up on their property -- It will melt, what' s the problem. I had one guy this year (neighbour to my customer) that saw me coming down the road and started to shovel his drive into my customer's. He seemed suprised when I told him not to do it. Too stupid to realize that his shovel against my blower is a plastic knife at a gun fight.

I've got other customers offering coffee at 3am. It takes all kinds.

 

[CDN Farm Boy]

As for the lights, the more the better when you are doing it commercially. But shut the extra ones off when you are just travelling down the road. As others have said, it's the people that don't bother to clean off their car that are more of a problem.

 

[Karl2]

First, plowing snow across the road. Number one, it is illegal in MOST areas. Rarely do I push across the road.

What do you mean by plowing across the road? I don't know if it's illegal in this area but if I did that I'd be pushing snow in someone's front yard and I don't think they would like that

 

[Tomtint]

I have a commercial lot that I plow and salt. What really pisses me off is when, after I'm done plowing it, people will show up and decide that it is a good place to sweep off the snow from the roof or hood or trunk. They can't do it at home first. Now I have a lot with piles of transferred snow and a slip and fall waiting to happen.

 

[Karl2]

As for the lights, the more the better when you are doing it commercially.

If by "commercially" you mean large parking lots and such then yes, I use all the lights I have if it's not snowing but for the residential portion of my jobs I usually only use the headlights and two sets of working lights (front and rear), not the whole carnival. If visibility is good I even turn off the beacon on residential streets. Heck, even *I* find the dang thing annoying. I try to avoid flooding homes with lights when it's not necessary. Another thing is noise, I never drop the bucket or pusher near homes (but do it all the time in commercial areas), if there is something that pisses off clients it's the Bucket Bangin' Bum. I use the extra 2 seconds it takes to lower it in a civilized manner instead of just shoving the stick into float. I know guys who lost contracts over this.

 

[Karl2]

X2 Whenever I get around to my driveways it is still usually well before the plows come through, but I get my driveways, the ditches before and after them and try to blow from the middle of the road in. It is a low traveled country road so traffic isn't real bad. That way the plow can't push anything into my drive because there was nothing to push.

About 25 years ago I was at work and my wife blew out the driveway, or at least tried. She got the JD 140 (small 14HP) garden tractor stuck near the end of the drive next to a 3-4 foot drift. I was coming home and as I neared the drive about 300 yards away I saw her shoveling away and had a chuckle, but then a big county plow came through toward me on the driveway side. He just buried her tractor. About that time he saw me and he knew he knew I was going to pull in so he stopped. He asked if I had a chain and that he would pull the tractor out and of course I obliged. I think if he wouldn't have seen me he would have probably kept on going and i would have been shoveling for half a day to get it out.

I can't complain about county plows that bury cars parked on the street. Every time it happens and I'm on a snow run I get flagged down by motorists who want to give me money to pull them out. Sure thing, $30 is cheaper than a tow-truck winch and a lot quicker. Easy cash. I carry chains and a waiver for this purpose. I make them sign a waiver ever since a woman tried to sue me over damage to her car that she claimed I had caused. Problem was she owned two cars and the damaged one was not the one I had pulled out. Lucky for me there were witnesses and she backed away when informed that going to court could lead to her being charged with insurance fraud.

 

[mangus580]

Just an FYI, listed below is the NY V&T law regarding amber lights..... They are required on ANY HAZARD vehicle in NY. I wonder how many other states have this law. What irks me... is driving down the road during a heavy snowfall, and finding some idiot plowing a driveway with a WHITE truck with no lights on... STUPID....

My house is on a heavily traveled 55mph road, around a minor curve, thus pretty crummy viability at times. There is a reason I use the lights I do!

3. Amber lights. a. One or more amber lights may be affixed to a hazard vehicle, and such a light or lights which display an amber light visible to all approaching traffic under normal atmospheric conditions from a distance of five hundred feet from such vehicle shall be displayed on a hazard vehicle when such vehicle is engaged in a hazardous operation. Such light or lights shall not be required to be displayed during daylight hours provided at least two red flags visible from a distance of five hundred feet are placed both in or on the front of, and to or on the rear of the vehicle and two such flags are placed to each side of the vehicle open to traffic. Such lights or flags need not be displayed on the vehicle when the vehicle is operating, or parked, within a barricaded work area and said lights or flags are displayed on the barricade. The provisions of this subdivision shall not prohibit the temporary affixing and display of an amber light to be used as a warning on a disabled motor vehicle or on a motor vehicle while it is stopped on a highway while engaged in an operation which would restrict, impede or interfere with the normal flow of traffic.