Montoursville, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is pleased to announce the Tioga, Bradford, and Sullivan county 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. The PennDOT District 3 program challenges youth to create an original rendering based on a provided theme that, if chosen as an area winner, will be painted on a PennDOT snowplow blade.
A panel of judges including PennDOT district and county maintenance employees, and a state trooper determined the winner for each area. Each winning design depicts this year’s theme of “Don’t Race. Allow Some Space,” which reminds motorists to give plow trucks and other vehicles on the road plenty of space to safely navigate winter weather conditions.
Wellsboro Area High School won the Tioga County contest. Their plow depicts a winter scene with two vehicles and the message “It’s Not a Race, Leave Some Space.” The second vehicle is following another vehicle with 6-7 seconds of following distance between the two.
For the second year in a row, Wyalusing Valley High School won the Bradford County contest. Their plow depicts the theme in large letters, with the last word “Space” painted black with yellow dashes to represent roads. Each road has vehicles traveling in snowy conditions on it.
Sullivan County High School won the Sullivan County contest. Their plow depicts an outer space theme, reminding “drivers” of spaceships on a galaxy roadway “Don’t Race. Allow Some Space.”
The painted plows will be on display through the holidays at the Keystone Welcome Center on Route 15 southbound in Tioga County, then at their respective PennDOT county maintenance offices for the rest of the year.
PennDOT recommends motorists stay at least six car lengths behind a truck plowing snow. 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.
While PennDOT recommends not traveling during winter storms, 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.
511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional X alerts.
More information about how to prepare for any type of emergency, including free downloadable checklists of items to keep in your home, car, and at work, and specific information for people with access and functional needs or pets, is available on the Ready PA webpage.
Find PennDOT news on X, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Subscribe to PennDOT news and find transportation results in Tioga, Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, Union, Snyder, Northumberland, Montour, and Columbia counties at www.pa.gov/DOTdistrict3.
MEDIA CONTACT: Kim Smith, kiasmit@pa.gov or 570-368-4344
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