Winter highway trap

The manner in which many Maine roads are plowed beyond the pavement is a contributing factor in inducing accidents. When new snow covers all in a fresh layer of white, it is impossible for a driver to tell where the limits of the pavement are located. It is then too easy for a driver to err too far to the right, get a wheel caught over the edge of the pavement and be sucked off the roadway into the ditch.

If, instead, the driver tries to get back on the roadway, it is easy for him to oversteer enough to throw the car into a skid, which often seems to take the car off the other side of the road. The practice of leaving new hottop pavement higher by an inch or two than the edge of the road contributes to the problem.

The traditional method over the years of plowing snow has been to plow the first few storms to the edge of the pavement and leave them to freeze in making a visible ridge that drivers can see. When visibility is poor, the ridge catches the front wheel and lets the driver know where the edge of the road is and helps him keep the car from going over the edge. To take care of subsequent storms, the plowed snow will be thrown over the ridge and may be pushed back where necessary by a wing plow set at a height to clear the safety ridge.

There are many places in my area that are scraped clean at least half again the width of the paved road with roadsides sloped just waiting to grab a wheel that gets over a little too far and pull it off the road. When this is covered with new snow or freezing rain it becomes a trap and all too often a death trap.

Warren K. Colby

Brooksville