UDOT Plow Drivers Working Hard To Keep Up With Snowfall
Dec 27, 2018, 12:41 PM | Updated: 8:09 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Plows were out in full force Thursday cleaning up the roads for the morning commute.
From the valleys to the mountains, drivers were working to clear roads. Some had been driving overnight, and others started bright and early at 3:30 a.m.
“Each storm is different,” said Andre Erabia, a snow plow driver for the Utah Department of Transportation.
Unable to fully predict what Mother Nature brings, UDOT prepares for it all.
They also can’t predict how drivers will behave.
“There’s a lot of people when their trying to pass and they don’t realize how much snow is coming off our plows,” Erabia said. “It’s enough to move your car and change your direction.”
He said that, despite warnings, drivers pass plows every day. Some even pass on the side the snow is being plowed, and it puts themselves and others at risk.
Erabia said that snow “could possibly spin you out.”
In order to stay safe, drivers are asked to stay 200 – 300 feet behind plows.
In the past two days, the Utah Highway Patrol was dispatched to a number of crashes where drivers were going too fast for the conditions.
Troopers have investigated 53 reportable crashes statewide today. However, in just Salt Lake and Utah Counties they responded to 95 reportable crashes, non-reportable crashes and slide-offs. Remember #slowdownmoveover for first responders and #fenderbendermoveoff the interstate.
— Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) December 27, 2018
By noon Thursday, Troopers had responded statewide to 53 reportable crashes. According to UHP, reportable crashes are incidents involving at least $1,500 in damage to the vehicle, incidents that cause some type of personal injury, incidents that damage government property, or a combination of the three.
In Salt Lake and Utah Counties, they responded to a total of 95 reportable crashes, non reportable crashes and slide-offs.
