A Mason City snow plow driver offered to pass along some tips on easier and more efficient snow removal for Mason City residents. Pictured above: snow that was removed form sidewalks, piled up in the street.|
Randy Jacobson is a Mason City snow plow driver who offered some tips to NorthIowaToday.com for easier and more efficient snow removal and asked us to pass it along to our readers.
We met up with Randy and took a ride along his snow removal route, which is near Madison School in south east Mason City. He pointed out some issues that make his job harder, and the clearing of snow for residents harder at the same time.
For instance, Randy says a lot of residents throw their snow from their driveways and sidewalks out into the street. Randy says they should not do that, since it will get pushed right back into a driveway on the next pass from the snow plow. He says that’s not the snow plow driver’s intention, and some residents take it personally. “We can’t really control where the plow pushes the snow, it just goes right. We’ve had people get out in front of the plows. I’ve seen a little bit of everything real early in the morning when I’m moving the snow.”
Another issue Randy pointed out is the piling up of snow out past the curb. He says the plows have to go all the way up to the curb, but hard, frozen snow piled up in the street makes it very difficult to be removed. He says residents should move the snow away from the street and curb whenever possible.
Still another issue that was pointed out is the proximity of mailboxes to the curb. “Too many mailboxes overhang the curb or even protrude past the curb into the street. Very hard to miss those at times.”
Randy says some residents claim the snow plow drivers are “speeding” but he says that’s not the case. “When I’m plowing near the curb, I drive 15 miles per hour. In the center of the street, it’s the speed limit, typically 25 miles per hour,” he says.
He also says the snow plow drivers in Mason City are not allowed to use the plows to clear their own driveways. “You would be fired for that, right away,” he says.
