Often, people are the problem, not the equipment.
But, there are some unique things about these tow-plows......
If I wanted to drive something that took up 2 lanes down a major highway , I'd have to sell my house to afford the permits for one trip.
Govt does not have to play by those rules.
If I was travelling down a multi-lane highway, and moved my vehicle into another lane, hitting an adjacent vehicle, I'd get charged.
Same verse, just like the first.....
Reminds me too, of what Forrest Gump said......
Somebody driving an overtaking car at 2-4 times the speed of a tow-plow, in blinding snow, with no headlights on, is doing a great job of creating their own destiny.
Human factors apply, on the other side too. A subset of the local major-highway plow operators here are known problems, as they regularly take out the metal guard-rails on straight sections of road. Letting these Cheech and Chongs (widespread drug testing is still less common here than in the USA) loose with these tow-plows pretty much guarantees additional havoc.
As it reduces hourly costs, these tow-plows will likely proliferate. A couple of things should be added:
1) Extra strobes that kick-in a few seconds before the tow-plow deploys, and stay going as long as the TP is in the adjacent lane. Would wake up semi-inattentive approaching drivers, but not the fully committed lemmings.
2) We are pretty much already there, in (tech) terms of self-driving cars. Adding long range proximity detection to a tow-plow is fairly trivial. If Cheech is driving the plow, or Chong is driving an overtaking car (no headlights, zero visibility), then the tow-plow can not deploy, until the obstruction clears.
Fundamentally I agree Ed; the people are the problem, not the equipment.
Rgds, D.
Last edited:
