Wyoming Drivers Keep Hitting Snowplows

For those who have lived their whole lives in the Sunshine Belt, snowplows might be an exotic sight, like New Yorkers marveling at the buffalo when visiting Yellowstone National Park. But for people who live in and travel through Wyoming, they should be familiar enough for them to understand plows need space. Yet for some reason drivers in the Cowboy State keep hitting snowplows.

Watch a fleeing Chrysler 300 get a PIT maneuver in a snowy chase.

So far, four snowplows have been hit by drivers this winter season, and it’s far from over. The latest incident happened on January 25 on Interstate 80 eastbound by Lone Tree. The culprit in a semi-truck rear-ended the plow as it was clearing snowdrifts that accumulated in the passing lane.

The semi sustained front end damage while the snowplow suffered extensive damage to its sander, which you might have guessed throws sand on the road. Thankfully, neither driver was injured, but the truck driver did pick up a nice citation.

After the crash, WYDOT took to social media to yet again remind drivers that snowplows often create snow clouds as they’re driving along. After all, the famous wind which whips across the 1-80 corridor combined with the plow’s blade moving snow results in a mini flurry that can obscure the back end of the snowplow.

In other words, if you’re driving along and there’s just a cloud of snow on the road ahead, stay back. We don’t know why anyone would drive into a zero visibility situation like that, but apparently even professional drivers do it.

Another incident on the morning of January 27 also involved a commercial truck which almost hit a snowplow as it was clearing the emergency lane on I-80 in Laramie. The commercial truck almost hit the plow, which swerved to the right and struck a guardrail instead. That time damage to the plow was minimal, probably because of the driver’s quick actions.

If you’re driving through Wyoming or really anywhere and you see a cloud of snow swirling around on the road ahead, don’t drive into it because it’s probably a snowplow at work. We can’t believe we have to explain that, but this seems to be quite the problem.

Images via WYDOT District 1 – Southeast Wyoming/Facebook