This year, with winter in motion, my experience with the salt being used on the roadways compared to the past years has caused me some concern, and with the safety factors involved, I realize experimentation is needed.

Trying to keep the major roadways safe to travel has created a new problem, which is visibility. The salt from the roadway being rained on the windshields creates a film that at times totally impairs the driver’s visibility. At the same time, this makes the driver unable to determine whether the roadbed has black ice, or is simply wet. The danger of flying debris from this portion of roadbed, can cause serious safety problems. A mixture used a few years back greatly improved traction on roadways while being more visible, due to the brown texture of gravel or dirt.

The Department of Transportation should reconsider the possibility of going back to something more visible, as well as traction while we’re in the freezing temperatures. As a truck driver, I’ve had 40 years of experience with this problem, and feel using salt is the wrong way. I’ve spoken with other drivers of the Eastern Seaboard and this seems to be a major concern all around.

Richard Florey

Glenburn