MnDOT's message for commuters: Take care and stay away from snowplows

As he commandeered his bright-orange snowplow down Interstate 35W in Burnsville Wednesday, driver Chris Mewes had a bird's-eye view of commuter behavior during the morning's messy snow snarl.

It wasn't pretty. Despite slick roads and stop-and-start rush-hour traffic, many drivers appeared to be texting, talking on their cellphones, or reading their e-mail or social media posts. One car darted on the right side of two big trucks and drove on the shoulder of the highway for a spell. And, farther north in Bloomington, a man took his morning walk along the interstate's shoulder.

These distractions have proved vexing for snowplow operators like Mewes, a 16-year veteran driver with the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). Since the season's first snowfall in November, there have been more than 30 crashes involving its snowplow fleet and other vehicles, compared with 48 crashes the previous winter.

Considering that a snowplow loaded up with salt and sand weighs nearly 75,000 pounds — compared with the average car weighing about 4,000 pounds — a collision between the two can be deadly.

On Jan. 10, a 30-year-old St. Michael man died when his vehicle struck a MnDOT plow on Hwy. 10 south of Royalton. The plow driver was not hurt.

A day later, MnDOT issued a news release imploring drivers to take care around its snowplow fleet, which numbers 250 vehicles in the metro area. Stay at least 10 car lengths behind a plow while driving, and pay attention, the highway department said.

Most crashes "typically happen because of inattentive drivers, motorists driving too close to the plow or motorists driving too fast for conditions," said Steve Lund, state maintenance engineer for MnDOT.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety estimates that distracted or inattentive driving is a factor in one in four crashes, resulting in at least 70 deaths and 350 serious injuries. The department believes these numbers are "vastly underreported" because it's hard for police to determine whether distraction was a factor in a crash.

It's illegal in Minnesota for drivers to read, compose or send texts and e-mails, or surf the web using a wireless device while a vehicle is in motion or part of traffic — that includes when stopped in traffic or at a light.

Mewes and his brethren have seen it all: People reading books while driving, eating cereal (with milk), applying makeup, and "talking to the clouds," while on Bluetooth.

Some commuters inch ever-so-close to plows, which edge along at 30 to 35 miles an hour, thinking it will be a safer slog. But a snowplow driver's vision may be impaired by the "snow cloud" created while plowing, and their ability to see the road behind them is restricted. So operators rely on mirrors to see the rear and side of the rig.

Mewes started his shift after midnight Wednesday. While conditions were a bit slick, they were "nowhere near what they predicted," he said.

Janet Moore • 612-673-7752