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, Mon, 16 Dec 2013 08:39:46
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A few yeas ago NJ passed a law to address the dangers associated with this issue. Here is the 2010 article that accompanied the passage of that law:
"As snow falls in New Jersey this winter, brooms may be moving over car roofs faster than in a Quidditch match at Hogwarts. A state law that took effect in October requires motorists to clean ice and snow off all exposed surfaces of vehicles before they start rolling. Fines range from $25 to $75.
Several states previously imposed fines if snow flying from vehicles caused damage or injury; New Jersey’s penalty is as much as $1,500 for commercial vehicles. And for several years, Pennsylvania has required that snow be removed from the windshield, side and rear windows. But the new pre-emptive law in New Jersey goes even further, with drivers required to clear snow from surfaces, including the windows, hood, trunk lid and roof. It does not apply to parked cars or those in transit when a storm sweeps in, and violators accrue no traffic-violation points.
“Ice and snow, remove it before you go,” warns a palm card produced by the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety. Accompanying photos show grim-faced people clearing their cars in ankle-deep snow. In the wording of the statute, they have an “affirmative duty” to do so.
The earliest targets of law enforcement are likely to be “the most egregious vehicles,” said Sgt. Stephen Jones, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police, which along with the local police will be charged with enforcement. “We call them tank commanders, because they’ve scraped out a little window to look through,” he said, noting that impaired driver vision is part of the problem.
This year, Connecticut passed a similar law, which will not take effect until the end of 2013; snow-removal requirements have been proposed elsewhere, including New York State.
Though reports of accidents have spurred such laws, no statistics are available for crashes caused by the accumulation of snow and ice on vehicles, according to a 2008 study prepared by the American Transportation Research Institute, a nonprofit group, for the American Trucking Associations. The study noted that the deadliest accidents caused by airborne ice involved larger vehicles, notably trucks. But the trucking industry said a solution might not come until truckers could find a snow-removal station as easily as a cup of java.
“We recognize that for passenger and commercial vehicles, excess snow is a hazard,” said Brandon Borgna, a spokesman for the trucking group. “We want to comply with the rules, but there’s often no way to comply.”
Drivers cannot be required to climb up on their rigs and shovel without running afoul of worker-safety provisions, he said, adding that most trucks traveling in New Jersey were passing through. Thus they are far from terminals, as their home bases are called, where snow-removal equipment may be available.
New Jersey says it will not give tickets to drivers of snow-capped trucks who can demonstrate they are traveling to a snow-removal station. A portion of the fines will finance installation of more roadside snow-removal equipment.
But what to buy? The transportation research institute study surveyed truck drivers about the methods they had used to remove snow. All had drawbacks, the truckers responded. Truck washes could be hard to find and costly, with the driver often picking up the tab for the carrier. And drivers can fall from scaffolds erected to give them access to shovel their trailers’ roofs.
Another snow-shedding technique, summarized as “drivers slam on brakes while driving around truck yard,” was judged by the surveyed drivers as ineffective and risky.
James Quinn, president of Cyclone Works in Waterford, Ontario, said that he had been getting dozens of calls a week from New Jersey about his company’s $24,000 drive-through scraper for trucks. For school buses, he offers an air-blower system that removes a foot of snow each second. New Jersey drivers take note: the $46,000 blower system “can clear a passenger car also,” he said."
, Mon, 16 Dec 2013 08:39:46
, Fri, 20 Dec 2013 07:37:48, Wed, 18 Dec 2013 12:14:55
, Tue, 17 Dec 2013 19:15:12, Wed, 18 Dec 2013 08:21:58, Wed, 18 Dec 2013 12:08:49, Thu, 19 Dec 2013 11:58:32, Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:01:33, Wed, 18 Dec 2013 12:13:04, Wed, 18 Dec 2013 08:03:14, Thu, 19 Dec 2013 13:37:25, Thu, 19 Dec 2013 14:23:01, Thu, 19 Dec 2013 20:21:02, Fri, 20 Dec 2013 08:36:36, Thu, 19 Dec 2013 16:28:24, Thu, 19 Dec 2013 06:54:24, Mon, 16 Dec 2013 14:57:44, Tue, 17 Dec 2013 06:27:58, Mon, 16 Dec 2013 15:15:40, Mon, 16 Dec 2013 14:56:27, Mon, 16 Dec 2013 16:01:14, Mon, 16 Dec 2013 12:42:27
, Mon, 16 Dec 2013 12:18:36, Mon, 16 Dec 2013 11:40:24, Mon, 16 Dec 2013 09:23:18
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