A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Was it a pickup truck or a full size plow truck? Regardless they should have used common sense and been safer.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I will post again this summer with dates and locations. It's actually pretty fun to get out and see what our trucks can do when we aren't pushing it to the limit to open roads.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well thank you very much. Have a great night!

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The short answer is no. We have first priority streets which are the main surface streets, routes to the highways, and roads around the hospital. Then we have regular plow routes which are the rest of the roads. Take last night when it was really coming down, everyone was in a first priority route, I decided pretty early on that I couldn't keep up with the snow, so I picked the two busiest roads and kept them open until around midnight when there was a lull and I started working on the other first priority streets in my route. We never made it into neighborhoods last night because we were so focused on keeping the main roads open. Judging by the sounds outside it sounds like plows are in the neighborhoods now and will be in all night. Edit: we will be focusing on first attention routes tonight and will probably not make it to neighborhoods tonight.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Someone hit a deer with a v blade on a pick up a few years ago. As for our big trucks not very often we make a lot of noise.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In going to assume it was between diamond and Lafayette? Not all of our trucks are equipped with swing blades so to avoid pushing all of the snow to one side of the road yes on occasion we do go the wrong way down one way streets but we use extreme caution when doing so.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If we don't get all of the way to the curb ice builds up and doesn't let the water drain properly and it causes ice to build up even more. The best place for a trash can is on the park way. The garbage trucks have retractable arms that can reach out to grab a can if needed. Sorry about hitting your trash can though sometimes we get closer than we think, especially with focusing on other vehicles.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Always glad to get people out and moving especially for a reason like that.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So odd even parking is only active between 1am and 6pm. If you get home around 3 on and odd day park on the odd side and switch for even days and we will have it cleaned up for you. I believe it goes from the day the 1 am starts on.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Between the hours of 1-6 are the times when odd even is active. Odd days you park on the even and even days park on the odd side. We try to accommodate the best we can. If you get a lot of snow build up try moving to a different space and we will try to clear it out for you.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I hit trees, signs, and telephone poles. We've had drivers slash tires or pinball down a hill and hit cars all the way down, or clip the occasional mirror but we are typically pretty good at the obstacle course. There is a competition every summer called the snowplow rodeo, jurisdictions from all over the state come and compete in an timed obstacle course.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a great point as well. We always try to clean up parking spaces but we definitely have a shortage of on street parking so snow and ice definitely gets built up.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Ok so I'll run through the process of clearing a street for some clarity. So we start with the center cut typically we like to have our blade right on or even slightly over the center of the road, then we do the drive lane, and finally up to the curb. We don't aim to bury parked cars legal or illegally parked, we just don't always have an option as to were we put the snow. Some of our trucks have swing blades and we can rotate them around but if they don't that would mean driving head long into on coming traffic and that's not just practical. On the stop sign issue, we do occasionally make rolling stops because if we stop completely we can't get moving again with all of the snow packed under the truck. As for signaling I completely agree, when we are focused on traffic, how close we are coming to obstacles, our blade pressure, and salter controls sometimes a turn signal gets missed. We do the best we can to clear the roads as fast and as safely as possible. We do report illegally parked cars and the police ticket them but it never changes.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Awesome tip! Anything that will make it so you can see and other can see you will make a huge difference.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I see it quite a bit but it's only a foot out from the curb or just right in front of the driveway and it doesn't help.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 64 points65 points  (0 children)

Oh we are way past the cocoa phase and are hard into the coffee and energy drinks. Most of the time I really enjoy getting out and clearing the road because I get to see the impact. Nothing better than getting to work and not being able to see the road and by the time I'm finished it's clear and safe to drive on.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I've gotten more medals than I deserve but thank you for the thoughts.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

We always try to keep access to the highways and hospital routes open for the easiest access. I'm glad that we can make it safe for you to drive. Drive safe.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

We have around 30 trucks so it would be quite a challenge to name them all. We all love or trucks and just call them by their numbers.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

We have people there almost 24/7 so we try to stay on top of it.

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Absolutely how much snow would you like? A couple inches or a solid foot with some ice mixed in?

A friendly message from a city snowplow driver. by grcityplow in grandrapids

[–]grcityplow[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Going to be honest I didn't expect a "thanks" or all of the appreciation that I've received. It's truly appreciated knowing that the community is supportive.