Mechanics Keeping Plows Running Ask For Public’s Cooperation

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – When the snow is falling, Utahns depend on state troopers and snow plow drivers to help keep the roads clear, but there’s an even small group of people who work hard to keep those plows on the road so they can keep clearing away the snow.

In Dusty Simpson’s part of state — around the Salt Lake Valley out to Wendover — there are nearly 200 plow trucks. All of those trucks, though, depend on people like Simpson.

“There are only six of us field mechanics,” said Simpson, who is the lead journey auto mechanic for the Utah Department of Transportation.

He and the other mechanics are tasked with keeping the trucks going. With the constant barrage of salt and snow, keeping the plows in working order is a round-the-clock job.

“We don’t take many vacations,” he said. “We work holidays and work a lot of weekends and stuff that some people get off — and we don’t.”

Simpson is used to it, though. It’s what he signed up for.

The mechanics work long hours and often get little sleep. They face other obstacles, too, especially when it comes to doing their job out on the roads.

“Anything can happen,” he said. “We’re on the side of the road, fixing trucks, and putting batteries in them. It’s scary sometimes.”

He said he wishes people would move over when they see the mechanics at work, and make their job a little safer.

Drivers need to give working plows some space, too.

State troopers pointed to a Thursday crash involving a semi truck and a snow plow. The truck, which was going too fast for conditions, rear-ended the plow that was working to clear an inside lane.

“The snow plow was hit pretty hard,” Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Matt Smith said.

He said the impact damaged the plow’s equipment and it had to be taken back to the shop. The truck wasn’t in good shape, either.

“(The) front end of this truck is pretty well smashed up,” Smith said. “Even with the cattle guard on it.”

Road conditions during winter can easily go from wet to slushy to slick.

“You can never tell what the road’s doing,” Smith said. “It may look clear, but it could be icy, so always watch your speed.”

“It’s better to get where you’re going,” he added, “than spending hours on the side of the road working on a crash, or even worse — in the hospital.”

That will help people like Simpson get their jobs done, too.

“It makes you feel good, too, when you get them up and going,” Simpson said about returning snow plows to the road. “You solved a problem.”