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Pic of the day, yesterday

R

RBoots

Well-known Member
Pics from my state route, using a Peterbilt tractor. Was gonna post yesterday, but just didn't have time. Would not stop snowing and blowing yesterday. Almost get done and have to start over. Must be quite a few Christmas Day travelers are a-holes. Got flipped off numerous times trying to push the drifting snow back from the edge of the highway, where it was blowing across both southbound and northbound lanes. Not much I could do with a 25 mph west wind. Even got a couple complaint calls to central dispatch saying I was swerving in and out of the lane. Darn right I was, I had 3' of my truck in the RH lane to get the shoulders pushed back, and would edge all the way into MY lane to go around the guardrail with my wing. The problem was the cars trying to pass me in MY lane. Idiots have no idea I have the legal right of way and are supposed to move over. Made it home in time for a couple hours of my daughter's first Christmas. Have a good day and a safe trip to all that are traveling.
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Driving for many people is nearly a mindless task, they have no idea how much work it is to be plowing snow- especially with a wing plow making your rig nearly 20 feet wide. A constant struggle to see what is in your path and get the max accomplished in the fewest trips over the same section of road.

Ross, do you guys have the laser pointer for your wing? I see them on the MDOT plows on I-94, seems like a great addition.

I also noticed a recent change to adding green flashing lights to our county trucks- something of significance?

Glad to hear you got to enjoy some of your Christmas, be safe out there.
 
Couple years ago in the Cadillac area they had people trying to pass the plow trucks on the right side which did not work out very well for them when they hit the wing plow
 
Know EXACTLY where you are coming from RB; worked for Hwy Dpt of Rds for 28+ years!!!! Probably one of the most unappreciated jobs a person can have especially in the winter time!!!! Used to be out plowing snow by 4:00 a.m. in the morning regardless what day of the week or which holiday!!! I?m sure my children can still remember a Christmas morning or two that they didn?t get to open their Santa presents when most children were because Mom made them wait till Daddy got home from pushing snow and a time or two that might not have been till that evening!!! If weren?t out there some would calling complaining about the road conditions, but when you are out there you are just in their way!!! 90% of the complainers actually have no business or reason to be out there on the roads period!!! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND BE SAFE, there are actually a few people who actually appreciate what you are doing!!!!!
 
I've said it before and I'll say it again, you guys have my UTMOST respect!! Doesn't look like you have a lot of snow to deal with there, but when the snow gets so deep that roadways totally disappear into the open fields (with ditches, of course!), .....sheesh! I'd be needin' to change my britches every few miles! Not to mention, you never know just what you're gonna find buried in the snow drifts you hit. :shock:
 
yup I know what you mean. spent the last 14 yr,s doing the same thing. but retired last sep. sow now it jusr sit in the house and watch the county trucks go by. Bob
 
I remember a point in time when my Dad ran a grader for NYSDOT plowing snow on I-81 when someone ran into the back of it. Story goes they claimed they didn't see him in the dark. Beacon on top, 3 sets of 4 way flashing lights on back, beacon on rear wing support.
Guess who had to go to driving school?
 
I thought west at first from the look of the trees,then I thought "Well that was foolish. The sun wouldn't be going down that far to the north. Had to be coming up to the south.". LOL
 
Laser pointer!!?? I never seen or heard of
them! We just have good old judgement and
experience to get close to objects without
hitting them. The green strobes are really
cool, they work extremely well and are
visible from a long ways off. It was
illegal to run green lights on anything,
considered a "distraction". The DOT and
County Road Association here in MI pushed
for them to be allowed for use as strobes
only on municipal equipment. Sort of like
how fire and ambulance have white and red,
and police have red and blue, they wanted
to make it so we could have green, and only
us have green. People were so used to
seeing orange strobes on everything, farm
tractors, mail trucks, tow trucks, garbage
trucks, etc, that people didnt/still don't
notice them. Well, Governor Rick Snyder
didn't think it was such a good idea, so he
wouldn't approve it. All of a sudden he
must have talked to someone important
because he changed his mind and allowed it
to go ahead and become a law that municipal
trucks could run green strobes and were the
only ones allowed to do so. I see a few of
the guys that plow with pickups using them,
but it's not like anyone is gonna enforce
it, anyone can buy the green strobes off
from Amazon or such.

Ross
 
I'm hoping to make it John! Only thing that will scare me off is rain; I melt when it rains...
 
You got it Bruce, I was just thinking, what the heck! It's Christmas, have a little compassion for people other than yourself!
 
Funny how that works, isn't it? We have lights at every possible point on our trucks, but people still run into them
 
Thank you Kcm! You mean like this? lol,
this is pretty mild though, too early for
the real deep stuff yet
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Well, similar to that. At least you have some trees to use for reference. :wink:

Some of these farm fields around here (and I'm sure other places) have such vast open areas with no trees or brush, that one can only guess at where the roads are. ....Now, where's that curve in the road?!? *lol*
 
A few winters ago I saw where a snow plow hit a stalled car that was buried in the snowbank. Tore the whole side of a van off. I bet that was a surprise to the truck driver!
 
Thanks 44Massey! I know what you mean about people not needing to go anywhere. I'll come upon someone stuck in a drift, ask if they are ok, and where they were going. Usually they'll tell me they were going to the party store for smokes and a mountain dew. Then, they get mad when I tell them I'm not permitted to pull them out. Sometimes I can get them out of they aren't too bad with a little shoveling and sand. I also like it when it's blowing 40 mph and 10 minutes after I've been through, people call in to the office and complain that I haven't plowed their road. Ah, but the GPS in my truck never lies. The office can look it up and see what time I went by the address of the person complaining, each time, since you have to go down both sides of the road, and how fast I was going by there.
 
RBoots, I just got in and at lunch time a car pulled into our parking lot. She started complaining a driver had not lifted his wing to let them get by. This is on a backroad that's almost seasonal I almost laughed at her but held my tongue. I told the superintendent and the kid who didn't lift his wing and we all laughed! I did lift my wing and got over this morning on a marginal road. We started at 3:00 on Christmas morning and the weather calmed down around noon time and was able to go home. Snowed a little last night and once cleared off just had to worry about a few drifts. About 17 degrees out today and going to get colder. If your ever bored look up Otsego County N.Y. route 36 street view that's the good road I plow.
 
Can remember some years ago was heading down very icey hwy with truck, spreading liquid deicer when looked up and car coming down the hwy at me sideways!!! It was a lady, don't know what started her in a spin but luckily I was on a nice flat stretch of the hwy that had wide flat grassy shoulders, little or no snow on it!! I steered off onto the shoulder just as her rear bumper went within a foot of the left side of my door!!! Her drivers side would have hit my one~way broad side had i not pulled off!! She managed to get it straightened out after she got by me and went on her way as did I! Later that day went puled into the shop my supervisor came out and asked if i had had a near miss earlier!! He said a lady had called in and told him about it and wanted to make sure he conveyed her THANK YOU to me for pulling off to avoid her and how grateful she was!!!!! I retired from the Dept of Roads about 5yrs ago!!
 
Yes, Ross, check with some of the MDOT guys, I'm sure you run into them once in a while. Right after I saw the return of the right side wing plows around here, I passed a truck on I-94 near here and could see the little green dot out in front of him on the snowbank. Next chance I got to see a truck at the fuel stop, I looked it over- they had mounted a green laser on the passenger side rear view and aimed it front right where the wing plow would cut. Seems like a great idea. My neighbor, who retired from Berrien County RC this summer, said they did not have the lasers, either. They were just glad to have a truck that ran right.

I agree, the green lights work well, something different than yellow, really gets your attention.
 
Be careful out there Greg, gotta watch out for not only yourself, but everyone else. Man oh man does stuff break when it's this cold. I'll bet we have some big issues this week with this cold. It's a fine line, things hold up ok, then once you get below whatever temperature it is, things just seem to break so easy.

Ross
 
Ross, After rereading my post I wasn't the driver who left his wing down but I did have a woman call the boss and complain because I was blocking the road putting my tire chains on. I had told her if it isn't plowed don't drive on that backroad because I might be coming through. The road in the picture I was coming down instead of up like I usually do and decided better chain up. I just make it a habit to put my chains on I can do it in just a few minutes no matter the conditions now. I have new tires on the back now so just take the chains on and off as needed.
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