Indiana, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is offering tips regarding removing snow from driveways and driving in excessively cold winter weather.
PennDOT crews are continuing to clear roadways from the weekend snowstorm. To assist in these efforts, PennDOT urges residents to not shovel or plow snow from sidewalks and driveways onto state roads.
PennDOT offers the following guidelines for shoveling or plowing snow on property adjacent to state-owned roadways:
- Snow should be shoveled or plowed to the right side of the driveway as you are facing the intersecting roadway. By piling the snow away from the oncoming direction of the snow plows, the snow will not be pushed back onto the driveway.
- Eliminate snow piles at the property entrance whenever possible. High accumulations of snow can obstruct the vision of motorists, posing a safety hazard.
- Do not push snow onto roadways at any time. This creates a hazardous condition for all vehicles.
With temperatures continuing to drop this evening, motorists are encouraged to:
1. Have an emergency kit in your vehicle stocked with a windshield brush/scraper, food, water, warm clothes, blankets, cell phone charger, a small snow shovel, and any specific needs such as baby supplies, medication, and pet supplies.
2. Always wear your seatbelt.
3. Be patient on the roadways and allow extra space between other vehicles and snowplows. Also, for their own safety and the safety of plow operators, motorists should never attempt to pass a snow plow while it is plowing or spreading winter materials.
4. On packed snow, decrease your speed by half. On ice, slow your vehicle to a crawl.
5. Turn off the cruise control on snow covered, wet, or icy roads. Cruise control provides constant power to your wheels. In a situation where your wheels are spinning on wet, icy, or snow-covered roadways, you need to reduce power to regain control.
6. If the road looks wet but there is no splash coming from the car’s tires ahead of you, it may be ice.
7. Clear your vehicle of snow and ice before starting to drive including the windows, hood, trunk, roof, headlights, taillights, and signals.
8. “Know Before You Go” by checking major roadway conditions at www.511PA.com. Motorists can check 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 1,200 traffic cameras. Users can also find plow truck locations and details of when state-maintained roadways were last plowed. 511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional X alerts.
Subscribe to PennDOT news in in Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Indiana, and Jefferson counties at www.penndot.pa.gov/District10.
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MEDIA CONTACT: Tina Gibbs at 724-357-2829 or chgibbs@pa.gov.