Citation

Macfaarlane D. APWA Reporter 2001; 68(10): 2 p..

Copyright

(Copyright © 2001, American Public Works Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In winter conditions, many roadway accidents are caused when vehicles attempt to pass snowplows and either strike the plow or lose control in transition to the unplowed portion of the road. One way to prevent this is through "echelon" plowing, where trucks plow as a team, one going in each direction. However, this does not always prevent cars from trying to "squeeze in between" the two trucks. This is dangerous because a car may come into contact with snow pushed aside by either of the two trucks, or come dangerously close to the trucks' wings. Furthermore, when conventional right-hand plows and wings are used, one truck must pick up all the snow cast aside by the first truck. One way to avoid this is by mounting a left-cast plow and wing on the lead vehicle so that the lead truck casts all the snow it collects to the median instead of into the second truck's lanes. In this case, the left-hand wing extends over the median shoulder rather than into the driving lanes, so if cars do attempt to pass they will not come up against equipment extending past the plow, and snow will not be cast onto the cars' windshields.