The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is pleased to announce the District 1 regional winners of the Paint the Plow safety outreach contest.
Paint the Plow is a statewide outreach aimed at promoting winter driving safety and fostering appreciation for high school art programs and student creativity. Students are invited to paint a plow blade with an original design based on a provided theme.
Mercer High School in Mercer County won the “Fan Favorite” award, which was determined by online voting through penndot.pa.gov/PaintThePlow. The plow depicts a distracted driver looking at their cell phone while the passenger in the vehicle points out deer on the roadway ahead of them. A license plate is painted at the bottom of the plow and displays this year’s theme - “Use your reason when it’s freezin’.”
Members of the public were invited to vote for their favorite plow from eight area high schools that entered in this year’s regional contest. Votes were accepted from December 9 through December 15, 2024. Mercer High School received 557 votes to win the 2024 “Fan Favorite” honor.
The winner of the “Judges’ Pick” award was Oil City High School in Venango County. This award was determined through judging by PennDOT representatives. The student mural shows a vehicle traveling along a roadway in winter conditions with a character nearby pointing to the program’s safety slogan which is depicted across the top of the plow.
West Middlesex High School of Mercer County was the honorable mention in both categories.
During the winter weather season, the painted blades are used to maintain state-owned roadways.
Statewide, 76 schools participated in Paint the Plow and more than 23,000 votes were cast. Photos of all the plows can be viewed on the PennDOT’s Paint the Plow website.
Additionally, is reminding motorists to give plow trucks on the road plenty of space, staying at least six car lengths behind. There may be blind spots where it is difficult for the plow operator to see the smaller vehicle. Never try to pass or get between several trucks plowing side by side in a "plow train,” and keep your lights on to help the operator better see your vehicle.
To help make decisions regarding winter travel, motorists are encouraged to “Know Before You Go” by checking conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras. Users can also see plow truck statuses and travel alerts along a specific route using the “Check My Route” tool.
For more information on PennDOT's winter preparations and additional winter-driving resources for motorists, visit the department's winter website.
Subscribe to PennDOT news and traffic alerts in Crawford, Erie, Forest, Mercer, Venango, and Warren counties at www.penndot.pa.gov/District1.
Find PennDOT news for the northwest region on X or Facebook.
MEDIA CONTACT: Saxon Daugherty, sadaughert@pa.gov or 814-678-7095
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