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

[D7E]

Even in our area the law not enforce nor is the knotheads that don't clean car roof off.

It will come off when you're going fast enough

 

[JBourquin]

On my fathers last truck he always drove with the plow straight across. He had to because when he left it angled, the air flow would miss the radiator and the truck would heat up. He didn't do it because he thought it looked cool. He's been plowing commercially for 40 years now and is over the whole "cool" factor.
If you wanna get started on people who wanna look "cool" when plowing, lets talk about all the guys with the ridiculous flashing lights and strobes. Don't even get me started on those guys! It's one thing thing to have an orange beacon that is required, but its another when you have more strobe lights than a police car!
Those are the guys you need to watch out for.

I'm all for the guys that are actively plowing snow, whether it be down the road or in a driveway or even a parking lot. Being a firefighter I'm all for being seen on the scene.. The ones that irritate the he|| outta me are the yahoos who drive all over town with their lights still on. That to me looks like a "Look at me, Look at me!!". Noone cares that you've got a plow on your truck when you're flying down the interstate at 70mph. If you're not plowing snow, making frequent stops or impeding the flow of traffic your lights are nothing more than a distraction..

 

[D7E]

I'm all for the guys that are actively plowing snow, whether it be down the road or in a driveway or even a parking lot. Being a firefighter I'm all for being seen on the scene.. The ones that irritate the he|| outta me are the yahoos who drive all over town with their lights still on. That to me looks like a "Look at me, Look at me!!". Noone cares that you've got a plow on your truck when you're flying down the interstate at 70mph. If you're not plowing snow, making frequent stops or impeding the flow of traffic your lights are nothing more than a distraction..

Same with tractors , If it's not a large or wide load switch all that crap off it confuses people .

 

[Johnp33]

Many of the class 7 trucks used for plowing snow were fitted with the thermatic fan and would overheat because of defused air flow. We had to retrofit them with the Horton electric.
About lights, my pet peeve is all the Ford Pig mobiles with the yellow lights they have across the back window, that blinds drivers coming onto the scene. use of rotator light when you are not flagged as overlength or over width is illegal.

 

[4shorts]

If you wanna get started on people who wanna look "cool" when plowing, lets talk about all the guys with the ridiculous flashing lights and strobes. Don't even get me started on those guys! It's one thing thing to have an orange beacon that is required, but its another when you have more strobe lights than a police car!
Those are the guys you need to watch out for.

Well sir you would despise me and what I operate. I have plenty of flashing LED lights on my machine. They are in the top, on the sides, front and back. To look cool? I don't think so. I don't give a rats behind what I look like as long as I can be seen.
I'm out in the worst possible conditions that one could be in at times and those lights not only protect me but oncoming traffic. I can be seen in the very worst of snow storms and to me that's got nothing to do with cool but more to do with survival. I work on and around one of the busiest roads in our area with plenty of fast moving traffic and if it takes a few lights to keep everyone safe then so be it.

 

[aczlan]

About lights, my pet peeve is all the Ford Pig mobiles with the yellow lights they have across the back window, that blinds drivers coming onto the scene. use of rotator light when you are not flagged as overlength or over width is illegal.

The new LED light bars on the NY State Police vehicles are bright enough that if a trooper were to be standing next to the door directing traffic at night, they could not be seen as the lights will blind you.

Aaron Z

 

[DJ54]

If you think it ticks you off LD1, you ought to be the guy that plows that road, and have some clown push snow out in the road, after you have it all cleaned up. 99% of the time you never see them. One time I caught one... I literally blocked him in that driveway, and it was his last pass... I got out, and proceded to rip him a new one... I probably could have gotten several days off for what I said, but at that moment, I didn't really care..., and put in in language he definitely understood... Just something about working 6-16 hours shifts in a row doing that stuff, I may have been a little cranky...

And yes, you are definitely correct about the liability of pushing snow out in the road, if it would cause an accident.

When I started reading this thread, I was all prepared to add some things from the road plow driver's point of view, but they've been covered... Top two are, clear back a 10-15' before your driveway to give the plow a chance to empty, and push spoils to the far side of the drive, in the direction of travel, so as not to keep pushing it back and forth. A LOT of people would pile it on the side, where you would push it right back in... You would think they would get a clue after a while. You would be surprised the calls the timekeeper would get with people complaining, and asking why that driver can't pick up the plow when they go by their driveway. Sweet Jesus.....

And definitely agree it's not just in the winter time, with people blowing grass, pop cans, and just junk out on the road. And not even having sense enough to stop with oncoming traffic, ESPECIALLY motorcycles.

Posting a couple of pictures from some years ago. This was in the clean up stages of the Blizzard of '78 here in Central Ohio. You can't see the full details of how deep the snow drifts are up further ahead in the picture, but they were as deep as the telephone lines on the poles. The semi in the ditch was blown off the road, by the 70 m.p.h. winds. I have a couple others, but they did not scan well...

One of the old fellows I worked with always said, "If they would put all of our snow plowing stories on TV, it would outrun Matt Dillon..."

And how many of you running strobe's when plowing, still see them when you FINALLY get to go home, and get some shuteye...., LOL....

I still get a knot in my gut, when they call for a decent amount of snowfall, after 32 years of dealing with it... Can't help it... I am sooo perfectly content with staying in the warm, and a whole lot less stressful. It's someone else's turn in the barrel...

 

[RoyJackson]

There's a solution to having your drive filled if you can clean the roadside ahead of your lane. Whenever I blow my lane I make sure I blow at least 10 ft of the snow bank away in the direction the plow will be coming from.

Same here, except I'm plowing rather then using a blower...and I go 30-40 feet "upstream" of the driveway entrance.

 

[Dr Dave]

If you think it ticks you off LD1, you ought to be the guy that plows that road, and have some clown push snow out in the road, after you have it all cleaned up. 99% of the time you never see them. One time I caught one... I literally blocked him in that driveway, and it was his last pass... I got out, and proceded to rip him a new one... I probably could have gotten several days off for what I said, but at that moment, I didn't really care..., and put in in language he definitely understood... Just something about working 6-16 hours shifts in a row doing that stuff, I may have been a little cranky...

And yes, you are definitely correct about the liability of pushing snow out in the road, if it would cause an accident.

When I started reading this thread, I was all prepared to add some things from the road plow driver's point of view, but they've been covered... Top two are, clear back a 10-15' before your driveway to give the plow a chance to empty, and push spoils to the far side of the drive, in the direction of travel, so as not to keep pushing it back and forth. A LOT of people would pile it on the side, where you would push it right back in... You would think they would get a clue after a while. You would be surprised the calls the timekeeper would get with people complaining, and asking why that driver can't pick up the plow when they go by their driveway. Sweet Jesus.....

And definitely agree it's not just in the winter time, with people blowing grass, pop cans, and just junk out on the road. And not even having sense enough to stop with oncoming traffic, ESPECIALLY motorcycles.

Posting a couple of pictures from some years ago. This was in the clean up stages of the Blizzard of '78 here in Central Ohio. You can't see the full details of how deep the snow drifts are up further ahead in the picture, but they were as deep as the telephone lines on the poles. The semi in the ditch was blown off the road, by the 70 m.p.h. winds. I have a couple others, but they did not scan well...

One of the old fellows I worked with always said, "If they would put all of our snow plowing stories on TV, it would outrun Matt Dillon..."

And how many of you running strobe's when plowing, still see them when you FINALLY get to go home, and get some shuteye...., LOL....

I still get a knot in my gut, when they call for a decent amount of snowfall, after 32 years of dealing with it... Can't help it... I am sooo perfectly content with staying in the warm, and a whole lot less stressful. It's someone else's turn in the barrel...

View attachment 296520View attachment 296521

1978, was some snow storm, we lived in Conde, SD. That morning we went to Aberdeen 40 miles away for food and supplies, it snowed hard all day, and the wind came up, that was along trip home. We had to park a mile away, my brother and me walked home and got the snowmobiles to carry supplies and our parents home. It took the county a week to clean a 2 mile length of road by our farm. Plow truck stuck, road grader stuck, then they brought in 2 large Cats with loaders and started at each end, 3 days and piles on both sides as high as the power poles.:shocked: We got to ride a snowmobile to school for that week:cool2:

 

[JerryK]

I turn all my lights on/flashers/and beacon on when I am blowing snow out by the road. I don't care if I look like a Jitney driveing around Manila... I just want to be seen in the big cloud of snow... I also blow and area upstream of my drive and mailbox, and the neighbors mailbox. I also blow a lane down the road as I go down to the neighbors. Everyone pitches in once and awhile to try to keep a lane cleared when the County is having a hard time finding time to get to the back roads...