Re: Proper snow plowing etiquette
A lot of this is really just common sence.......which can be in short supply. In my area, SW Michigan, the county road commission allows snow to be pushed across the road and into the field. You cannot leave spilled snow on the roadway, though. We are in the country, on a paved road, and the road commission does a decent job, especially in these times of budget crunches and tight budgets. It behooves everyone to work together, and not make life tougher than it already is. If I push the snow across the road, before going back up the big hill, I take two more trips across the road, and scrape any residue that spilled out of my FEL bucket. My drive is long, curved and the hill is sizeable. Pushing snow up the hill is difficult once the bucket is full, so usually I go up the hill unloaded, turn around and push the snow down to the road. I can also stack the snow on my side of the road, and always bell mouth the access where the drive blends into the road. I like to plow the shoulder and push that snow back up onto my property. The county plow driver likes it, because he can stay away from the mail box and newspaper tubes. In the grass mowing times, I use a JD 235 garden tractor, and mow so that the cuttings go away from the road. I have fitted a rear view mirror so that I can watch for traffic, turn the mower blade clutch off until traffic clears, and then re-ingage the mower blades. It is a courtesy to the cars and trucks, and may save me having a rock thrown by my mower and damaging someones vehicle or even them. We are in dairy country, and one complaint that many have is that the huge farm tractors and their monster tankers are breaking up the pavement, knocking over mailbox'es, spilling liquid manure on the pavement, and then people drive into their garages and have the "dairy air" where it is not wanted. The farm tractors are not consuming fuel with road tax paid on it, not registered or licensed like a truck or car. I have a farming back ground, and retired from it, and understand that what I write here, may be challenged. Just as snow plowing, and mowing the property that abutts the road should be done courteously and safely, so should other operations involving roads, tractors and everything else. Working together does make the load lighter.
