This is off Old Ocean City Road.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
37 comments:
If he had his plow down do you think this would have happened?
Just MAYBE they could have started earlier when they could still see where the road was! Dummies.
Nice to see the county paying people to drive around. Been seeing it all day, the few trucks I've seen have not been doing any plowing.
you call em pros? ha....
They are pros alright!
Plows were up when they went by my house on Dagsboro Rd. County must have plenty of money. They are paying overtime for guys to just ride!
Joe did we get under 50,000 today?
they were told no plows down until there is at least 6" of snow.
6:49 - You took the words right out of my mouth... These guys are a JOKE. They barely meet the requirements for a drivers license yet alone the requirements to clear our roads... How 'bout three in a row all clearing about 6 inches per vehicle? Never seen incompetence like that...
Ah, County Roads Pro's NOT! Except at staying out of work.... Ray Sharma taught them well...
Hey, When I was coming back from Virginia earlier this afternoon I saw a MD SHA F-250 fishtail as he pulled out from the Goose Creek Store in Westover into northbound MD US-13.
he was plowing more snow ONTO route 50
This is a state truck not a county truck. It's hard to see the sides of the roads anywhere out there. We went buy this truck and made sure they didn't need help... well other than needing a wrecked to come pull them out. It's nasty out there. Route 50 and 13 are drivable until you have to turn. Most of the sides roads are not plowed and people are getting stuck trying to get into other roads.
They can't plow to triple time !
Notice he wasn't plowing when he drove in there?
We came up north on Rt. 13 from Salisbury to Laurel a little while ago. There were THREE state plow trucks coming out of Delmar headed north on 13 ahead of us.
Neither one had their plow down!
They were not sanding either.
These guys are out here riding around holding off to collect even more OT on OUR tax dollars!
I wish I could fire every one of them that are doing this.
When we left Laurel to go into Salisbury around 3:30 (had to check on homebound mother) there had been NO plows on 13 in Delaware OR Maryland!
You people in these cars out riding around in this are just plain STUPID! These conditions require a 4x4! Get off the road!
7:50
Some of those people out there in cars are not on the road by choice. Many went to work and just got off work and are trying their best to get home.
7:43 isn't it remotely possible that he raised the plow after he stopped.The plows do go up and down even tho the truck isn't moving. Trucks have been going up and down Nanticoke rd today and plow have been down every time. Even tho it has been few and far between. But Nanticoke rd is a pretty long rd.
And some are out there just because they can be....I'd bet.
OMG! We only have so much money.....blah blah blah. I'd like to see Judge Davis out using his 500.00 trash cans clearing the road!!! Landfill trash incident...all get charged.......trash can incident....Judge ..hero for paying for his oversight??? Judge, fudge.....he's as guilty as those that praise him!!!
Typical shore backwards execution. As if snow removal required some kind of intelligence. These are the ppl that we pay to make the roads safe and they themselves cant even have the integrity to not think about the OT. Gotta love the shore mentality, me, me, me. If this happened anywhere else the local news media would be all over it. Look at what the Dover residents did after the last snow storm. They b!tched ALOT and got results. That would never happen here due to the good ol boy network.
once again just a bunch of crybabys on here please get a life come over and shovel my driveway and blow off some of that negative attitude you all have
Citygoer give it a rest. YOU moved here and if you dont like it move away. The western shore is having the SAME problems trying to clear the roads as we are down here.
Why do we ONLY hear from you when you have something to whine about? You post nothing positive just whine.
what about the 10 furlow days that state highway workers have had to take this year along with 10 more this year, If you don't know what you are talking about then keep your mouth shut.
citygoer if you don't like it here, go back to the city
636pm plow was down on truck in my picture........AND THIS WAS NOT COUNTY...THIS WAS MARYLAND STATE HIGHWAY ....MDOT.........NO LESS........
You can't make everyone happy. If they don't plow you're not happy. If they do plow you're not happy, because they push the snow in front of your driveway or house. Maybe you all will happy to get out there and clear the road in front of your house, then we can fire all of them and take care of roads ourself. Will that make you happy? map
If you think he didn't have the plow down, look again. The plow is tilted because the truck is tilted. You can also see a pile of plowed snow in front of the plow.
PROS? what a joke, anyone who grew up where it really snows, knows how to handle it. where i grew up everyone just went about their business, wasn't all this fuss and whining! They are only pros at riding around!
citigoer- do you have any idea the skill these drivers have in doing this job? I guess it depends on how you measure intelligence. My husband is one of the subcontractors the state hires to supplement their efforts. He and our second driver (also on plow) both have class-A CDLs and HAZMAT certifications, both of which require serious study and testing. They also have to account for others of low intelligence out on the road who think that they can just "squeeze" by these trucks. Do me a favor - go to the training classes, take the written and driving tests, get your federal clearance to be HAZMAT rated, then post back here on Joe's site. Since, by your account it doesn't take much intelligence, I expect you'll do fine.
8:25 It doesn't require a Class A license, or a Hazmat certification to drive a snow plow. My class B certification cdl will do just fine.
10:59
She didn't say it required a Class A or Hazmat. She said her husband drives these trucks and that he has those things. Those tests are not the easiest to pass. So saying the people that drive these trucks are stupid was a stupid comment.
While everyone was sitting in their nice warm home yesterday these drivers were out plowing snow. Say what you will its not an easy job.
10:59: No, it doesn't take either certification. You are correct. But many of these subcontractors have them, nonetheless. However, you did have to prove your skills to get a class B, correct?
I am sick of people like "citygoer" downing people they think are of low intelligence because they have "blue-collar" jobs, yourself included. I would love to see such people get off their bums and try to do some of the work they incessantly complain about.
Do any of the naysayers here realize that many of these plow drivers have been out for well over 24 hours with only small naps between runs? Their jobs may not require "high intelligence" as "citygoer" implies, but the service they are providing is far from menial and definitely not stress-free.
If you have never pushed snow in a large truck let me tell you it takes a little more than just getting behind the wheel and dropping the blade. I have a little over 10 yrs experience at snow removal so Im not just "blowing smoke". Without knowing the facts I cant make a judgement call about how these guys ended up in the ditch. Ive spent as many as three days straight behind the wheel, and with a minimum amount of sleep. A lot of factors come into play if you're going to plow snow the right way...
The amount of traffic and time of day or night can determine how you plow and when you use salt. Typically we would try and remove as much snow as possible on our first pass, and then come back and salt if possible. If I remember correctly salt begins to lose its effectiveness at around 20 degrees. So salting at or below 20 degrees was basically a waste of money. The best time to salt was a few hours before morning traffic. This gave the salt a chance to melt some of the snow which theoretically created a brine which would seep into and under the existing snow and hopefully make it easier to remove.
Driving the truck in snow like we received yesterday can be a real treat... take notice of the headlights or "plowlights" on a truck. They're placed above the plow to allow the driver to see the road ahead. The normal headlights are blocked by the snowplow blade. These plowlights improve the drivers visibility greatly...as long as it isnt snowing. If its snowing well..the effects are kind of hypnotizing. The plowblade isnt exactly aerodynamic...so the air in front of the truck is following a path that goes up and over the plow, and then up and over the cab of the truck. Now add a fair amount of falling snow to that airflow...and you have what looks like a continuous wave of falling snow that comes over the plow, over the hood, looks like its going to hit the windshield, and then flies over the top of the cab. Pretty mesmerizing with the bright plowlights illuminating this for you all night long.
Trying to plow with traffic on the road can really make this an interesting position. I cant tell you how many times Ive watched cars pass me only to see them in the ditch a mile or so down the road. Performing snow removal after peak hours is always the best option but not always possible.
One question before I end this...How many of you have ever said a simple "Thank you" to the men and women who do their best to keep the roads open? I can say that Ive had one person thank me in the ten years that I was involved with snow removal...one person, in ten years.
12:39:
Thank you and all the men/women doing work many would not even want to attempt. Your efforts are most always overlooked when you are doing a good job and unfortunately you are often ripped to shreds by people who have no idea what you all do.
Thank you for coming forward to explain what my husband, my friends, and you go through to make others' rides a bit more safe.
In all of the pictures posted on this blog of trucks off the road (even one on it's side) not one comment on the condition of the driver, except to degrade them.
I was directly behind him when he went down, I stopped to make sure there were okay, sadly my expedition wouldn't touch attempting to pull him out, but the PLOW WAS DOWN. I did however see several that morning that weren't plowing, he was the first I seen actually plowing.
Just to clear up any confusion, there are actually times when an operator has his plow up on purpose. He may be just spreading salt, passing thru another jurisdiction, on his way back to get more salt, going to assist someone, etc. For those of you that think this is easy, it is not. We experienced near white-out conditions. At the onset of the snow, traction was nowhere to be found. If you weren't loaded, you were all over the place. It doesn't help things that everyone wants to be out riding around. It is hard to get the roads clear with traffic like I saw on Saturday. Many of us, especially the county, drive much older trucks that lack in the heat department and have old fashioned wipers. I can't tell you how many times I have had people scream at me because my plow was up while in route to get another load of salt, or while passing through another municipality to get to mine. Also, remember that when your driveway gets filled in, we can't help it. The snow can only go one way off the plow. It can't go up, it can't go down, usually can't go left, pretty much has to go right. When you do shovel out your driveway, put the snow on the "downstream" side so it doesn't end up back there. Also, to the private companies clearing parking lots, dont push big boulders of snow out into the road, they are a hazard to traffic. Most reputable companies don't do this. In summation, the next time you want to start ranting about a perceived lazy operator, who is just "riding around", maybe you should ask yourself if you really know what you are talking about, and consider that there may be a legitimate reason for what they are doing. You could even call and ask if it bothers you that much, and maybe will become a little more educated on fact and fiction.
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