| Snowy
roads will soon make driving trickier
By Erin Wadsworth
December 7, 2006 | For many drivers snow presents a
bit of a conundrum when it comes to safe driving, acting
as though they have never seen snow in their lives.
Although the snow has not hit Cache Valley too hard,
all residents know what's in store for the coming months.
They're not just dreading inversion, but that multi-foot
layer of white stuff creating panic for commuters.
Lt. Tracy Hulse of the Logan City Police Department
says when it comes to car related fatalities in the
winter situations are not much different than they are
in the dry months.
"Normally in crashes, speed is what kills." said Hulse,
" Yes, we do have a higher volume of crashes during
the winter, but they usually involve a slower speed
crash."
Although Logan sees more crashes in the winter, nothing
changes drastically when it comes to patrolling the
city streets, said Hulse. The main worry is what will
happen when the snow plows need to make their way through
the snow packed streets come morning.
"One difference is that we don't allow overnight parking
on the road," said Hulse, "which enables the snow plows
to clear a wider travel portion."
Snow plowing becomes a sticky issue when someone has
to leave their house an hour early just to make it to
work or school on time. Utah State University student
Allison Coffman feels that the snow plows never get
out fast enough to clear the roads before morning.
"The university shuttles took forever to get to their
destinations," said Coffman. "They were always stuck
on the hill on their way up to campus."
Hulse believes that the plowing of the roads during
times of heavy snow is very effective, but things tend
to get more complicated when the snow doesn't stop for
days at a time.
"Sometimes when we get hit with a large snow storm
late in the night," said Hulse, "there is a lot of catching
up to do once they call out snow plow drivers."
As many dream of a white Christmas, most students
are wishing for a safe trip home for the holidays. Traveling
is always more stressful when you have to worry about
sliding off the road, or spinning into another car on
the road, said Coffman.
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