What is it like driving a snow plow professionally? I assume it's a mad scramble to clear the roads every time it snows, especially the main ones.
>>28764851Where I live it's not uncommon to see a train of 8+ salt trucks rolling out at once with a pickup trailing behind clearing the snow piles off the ends of side streets. That is, if you're out at 3am to catch them right when they're leaving the DOT facility.
>>28764856Reminder that there are dozens of ways to keep roads drivable without slathering them in shit that rots infrastructure, destroys the environment, and melts through cars to the point anything surviving past 10 years is a unicorn
>>28764851It's like thishttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-_ql8kuNYs
>>28764851Feast or famine. I remember one year that was unusually mild, and when we finally did get a dusting, these guys are out there with dump trucks mounted plows and front-end loaders trying to scrape up an inch of snow because they were losing their ass.
>>28764860Sure, but slathering poison on the roads saves some fat fuck 10 bucks per day>B-But it's paid by the taxpayersYeah and he's pocketing the rest.
>>28764851I've always wanted to plow for the DOT, but private pays far more. >White goldI have four subdivisions I take care of. >Western wide out >Boss back bladeSometimes I miss the V plow but this wide out makes short work of the roadways and the back blade makes driveways a breeze.I used to do commercial lots but something happened around COVID and I lost my commercial lots. >Wasn't willing to plow for pennies Plowing has been by far my favorite job.
>>28764851Reminds me of that one Episode from The Simpsons
>>28764860There isn't if you live somewhere with freeze-thaw cycles. The roads would turn into skating rinks if they didn't. Do you want to be forced to run studded tires?
It's a lot of long hours is what it is. I've driven both trucks and wheelloaders for snowclearing, was on call from october 1st to 1st of may for nine years before i quit and became a heavy equipment mechanic instead. The truck part was what killed my enthusiasm for truckdriving, I got called out 1-2am most days, drove for 7-8 hours, slept three, usually in the cab, then got the call again and drove another round around my alotted area... slept and got called out again. Unless it snows enough for the beginning of the route to have reached the threshold of 3cm or thereabouts, then you would just turn around and go again until it cleared. My worst time I drove for 36hours straight, only taking quick bathroom breaks at gas stations along my route and stocking up on coffee and snacks.Mind you I wasn't exactly up on my sleep before this. slept 4 hours and got called out to go for a cleanup around the whole route. An insane workload for a guy still in his teens on his first jobThen again, when you had slept enough it was pretty rewarding work, fun even, blasting your prefered music and just driving, sometimes shooting shit over the radio or telephone with other truckers or, when you got to drive tandem with another truck, your buddy. Looking back, that Volvo FH12 was one of the better homes I've had, and I've never been able to sleep as good as I did in that cot, engine rumbling underneathA memorable episode was when I, sleepdeprived and rather grouchy, on my third day of seeing a trashcan still on the road, I hit that fucker with the side wing at 60km/h (near 40mph) and launched that fucker right over the snowridge, ditch and fence spraying thrash bags over the whole yard. It's usually not this bad, but it happens every few years, and is the most funhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt3zgns6cEcI haven't got access to any pictures from that time of my life currently, and so this isn't my truck, but it was similar, painted blue and with winie the poh on the side.
>>28764851Well there's two kinds. Professional and private. Private if you're big enough, you'll have pre-arranged lots you'll plow. If you're a smalls schmuck, you basically go anywhere that hasn't been plowed by 9am and ask if they want to pay for your services.
>>28764851Snow plows like pic? Its city or state workers. The same guys your see leaning on their shovels next to road construction in the summer and those routes are work 5 figures/fiercely defended. Private, generally landscaping companies trying to make some extra money. Either way pretty chill but the money varies greatly
i don't know much about the actual mechanics of plowing but i know the older dedicated snow trucks and their equipment, oshkoshes and especially walters, are really fucking cool to me for some reason. in awe of the size of that V-plow, fucking look at that thing, jesus christ. and if you were afraid of diesel gelling up in the winter you could get your choice of gas engines instead up to a TWENTY LITER straight six with power going to all four wheels all the time through geared wheel hubs. shit's wild
>>28765377>There isn't if you live somewhere with freeze-thaw cycles. The roads would turn into skating rinks if they didn't.sand exists.>Do you want to be forced to run studded tires?you should be doing that anyway if you live somewhere with snow you fucking retard
>>28765581Sand does fuck all on solid ice and it won't stop ice from forming. Even gravel doesn't do much except for you needing a windshield replacement every 3 months. Studs don't do shit on snow and you defiantly don't need studded tires to drive winter. You sound like a fairweather faggot.
>>28765589I live in montana lmaothe state that uses sand and everyone runs studded snow tires in the winter because we aren't brainless citycuck californians like you
>>28765591>I live in montana lmaoYeah you write like you're inbred, makes sense.
>>28765581sand only works because of the salt content in it. the grit gets pushed around uselessly. those states that use beet juice and other meme solutions unironically have better results
>>28765369holy shit that ai frame gen is horrible
>>28765589DEFINITELY
>>28765581>you should be doing that anywayUp here in west MD they fuck everything up with so much salt that the roads are a dry crusty white 80% of the time, so studs would be a bad idea
>>28765591We use sand in california
>>28767844how far west in md? I was driving through frostburg to morgantown and damn I did not expect it to be so cold or there to be so much snow and ice>the roads are a dry crusty white 80% of the timenot the back roads
bump
>>28767868You have sandy vaginas in California
>>28765591>I live in montanaI'm so sorry for your loss.
>>28767868California is the worst state for snow driving. They require chains and most of the time they just shut entire roads down. I lived in Arizona and it was your choice entirely what to do, they never shut down a road or ticketed people for not putting on useless chains.
>>28771334require chains for any sort of mountain pass? I thought the rules are usually something like winter tires or chains
