You’ll feel it in the air during a frost Monday night: winter is right around the corner.
And when the snow eventually falls, for the first time you could get a ticket if you drive too close to a snowplow.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill into law this summer requiring drivers to stay at least 200 feet away from snowplows that are actively plowing or treating roads. That’s about 12 car lengths, Kent County Road Commission Managing Director Jerry Byrne said.
Byrne said the law is mostly aimed at keeping regular drivers safe.
“The men and women driving that truck, that’s gonna weigh between 20,000 and 80,000 pounds,” Byrne said. “If you run into the back of a vehicle going 50 miles an hour and you’re driving a 3,000-pound vehicle, you’re gonna be the one that’s gonna be injured and damaged.”
Over the last five years, there were 114 crashes involving snowplows statewide, sending some drivers to the hospital.
“It’s not uncommon for us to have probably 15 or 20 (crashes) throughout the course of the winter,” Byrne said.
Byrne said staying 12 car lengths away may sound like a lot, but when the roads are covered in snow and visibility is limited, you need three times as much stopping distance.
“If you’re traveling at 45 miles an hour, that’s about three seconds,” he said. “That doesn’t give you a lot of room. Twelve car lengths is not very far when it’s slippery.”
The new law does have some exceptions. It only applies when plows have their lights on and they’re working for the state or local jurisdiction.
It does not apply when drivers are trying to pass a snowplow.
When the plow is stopped or at an intersection, drivers only have to stay at least 20 feet away.
“That 20-foot distance is so critical at an intersection because that snowplow driver is going to make multiple passes, which means they stop, they swing into the intersection, they back up,” Byrne said.
Questions remain over how the law will be enforced. Byrne said officers are often busy during snowstorms responding to other crashes. Unless a driver is pressed up right against a snowplow, it might not be an officer’s first priority. He says the law is about voluntary compliance and it’s a good idea to follow it.
“You’re gonna catch yourself if you’re in a crash,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to tell that officer you were 200 feet from the vehicle.”
