Floor pan eight inches from the road on a twelve inch curbside slush bank. Are you up to lifting a car out of its parking place?
Snow IS an oddity out there ain't it? ;-)
Winter officially begins in our neck of the woods.
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Floor pan eight inches from the road on a twelve inch curbside slush bank. Are you up to lifting a car out of its parking place?
Snow IS an oddity out there ain't it? ;-)
What would be an oddity is a twelve inch slush bank....whatever that is. I always have good tires and I usually carry a bag of sand and a shovel. I've spent Winters in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and B.C.. I try not to get myself in situations where I'm likely to get stuck. Nanaimo is probably one of the most kindly places in Canada for Winter drivers.
Be good if they did raise the blade at the driveways but they don't.. I can drive through the pile the snowplow leaves at the end of the driveway but the poor guy on the other side of the street has to shovel the sidewalk under threat of fine and the plow comes by three times a day. If I had my way they would give the snowplow driver a shovel.
Three times a day? I've seen a Grader on my street (with his blade down)
once in the last six years. Usually they tool up my street with their blade
about two feet up so that it's no where near the snow. I always wanted my
street plowed, even once, until it happened. Yeah.....it was one of those,
"careful what you wish for" situations.
Before:
...and After:
.....and After I dug out a hole to park my car in:
If you look close in the first pic I posted above, you can see the tread
from one of the Graders that usually tool up my street with the blade
up....
I've learned that it's much easier to replace my muffler every second
year than to try and remove that pile that freezes into one large lump
of ice in no time at all...
from one of the Graders that usually tool up my street with the blade
up....
I've learned that it's much easier to replace my muffler every second
year than to try and remove that pile that freezes into one large lump
of ice in no time at all...
As a grader operator I can only say we are a cruel bunch of heartless bastards.
Highblader indeed!
I live in Nanaimo. Not Sudbury or Edmonton or Yellowknife. About three days ago we got four or five inches of snow. VanIsle lives in Nanaimo as well and she reported two or three inches. We didn't need the snowplows for this light snow The rain took away most of the snow by the end of the day. We don't need snowplows for most light snowfalls for that very reason, but we get them anyway. Hell Nanaimo even closed the schools because of the snow.
In all fairness to Toronto, the city bases its snow removal budgets on previous years. Following several consecutive years of scanty snow, Toronto got cocky and didn't have enough equipment for the three fast storms and the metre of snowfall it got.
Ten years before, when I was plowing in North York, we paraded Metro Works plows and loaders into Buffalo for the same reason
Ten years before, when I was plowing in North York, we paraded Metro Works plows and loaders into Buffalo for the same reason
I remember last year when all that snow fell in Vancouver ( Christmas Time ) and I could barely pull out of my driveway. They plowed the parking lot of my Strata and I was in the same boat as you Ron, as I came home to a driveway full of packed snow wishing I would have left well enough alone..
Prority #1-clean the road,school bus routes are top priority,graders arent cheap to run and if you knew how many "personal" requests they get for special treatment on driveways you would be amazed.
You can do one pass down a city or town block in under a minute,factor in all the requests to clean driveways and add another 20 minutes,then dont bitch when your taxes go up.
I don't think you understand how it is here Karrie. The City does not pay anyone to clean the public sidewalks. People have to walk on the plowed pavement because the snow on the sidewalks is too deep for the brief time we have it. That is pretty dangerous walking. Like Juan says, it would be better to either leave it or throw down a little salt. We had about 6 or 7 inches of snow by bedtime last Monday night. By 7:30 Tues. A.M. the rain had taken that down to about 3 inches. The ridiculous local schoolboad closed all schools except for the University and 17,000 students plus the teachers all got the day off. No one was having difficulty getting around town. The only left over snow is that which was plowed into a big pile. When we look at the forecast and see "rain" we don't do something foolish like shovel the driveway. Some of our neighbours did. They have snow down the sides of their yards. We don't have any.
This city does not have enough snow equipment and has to hire anyone they can if we get dumped on like last year. The snow came on almost exactly the same day a year ago but it stayed until the end of December. We are going to have a green Christmas and with some luck, maybe even a pinch of sun either the day before or the day after. As always, that is subject to change but there is no snow in the forecast so far. If you could see how they pile the snow due to their lack of experience in clearing it, you woud have quite the laugh. In large mall parking lots they pile it all up in the middle rather than on the fringe and it stays forever. I have an idea where Juan lives (not the exact address by any means) and I know that they roar through there with their plows too frequently as it is a school bus route. (school wasn't in). They are so foolish in regard to how they remove snow that at the school where my grandkids go - they used the handi-capped parking space to pile all the snow. The school principal had to have a sign erected about 5 feet off the ground so they would not fill our parking place with snow when we pick the kids up. It's not easy to get a wheelchair through snow as it is. By this time last year, the snow budget was already spent. That gives you an idea of how much prep they do for snow removal. I would hazard a guess that most people here don't have a pair of winter boots in their closet.
They don't have to clean driveways - just lift the blade so they don't block them either. As I said earlier, that's what the grader driver in PG did.
That's right Juan, makes sense to me too. We got the snowfall about 3 days ago,
snow plough came by and cleaned the road, we just pushed a strip, to walk to and
from our car, and right now, one wouldn't even know it had snowed, the rain took
it away, poof, we have our mild weather back, and snow is gone.
Our township uses snowploughs on trucks vs. graders and are very very quick to clear the roads. Most of the township is rural, so it's more or less straight running for them, and they do a good job. canada:YAY twp. guys)
Woe betide the fool who shovels or scoops or blows his driveway too soon, for he will soon again do the end.............and the plows can leave some big banks:angry3:
canada:YAY twp. guys)Woe betide the fool who shovels or scoops or blows his driveway too soon, for he will soon again do the end.............and the plows can leave some big banks:angry3:
Yeah, I know what that's like. It sounds like most cities' snow plowing. The only place it differs seems to be in the perceived 'need' for it.
I think the worst criticism I have is the windrow left at the driveway entrance when they plow the roads. Unfortunately there is no practical way to eliminate it except for shovelling it out yourself. One other little annoyance is people who won't shovel the sidewalk in front of their house. I realize there are elderly people who can't do it, but that's no excuse for their able bodied neighbours not doing it for them. (but then this isn't 1959 either)
It may not seem like a big deal to the peeps on the ground but it's very time consuming to do a proper job(scrape to pavement) if you have to start changing the pitch and angle of your blade for every driveway.
Plus when you lift your blade the snow left behind causes you to spin out as graders make their own traction and whatevers left after the blade gos over is what they have to drive on.
A heavy windrow will slide a grader all over the place,thats why the front wheels lean and the machine articulates in the middle,to counter the load.
When you see one plowing their probably maxxed out with what they are moving,you need speed and momentum to keep the windrow moving,graders are terrible when it comes to traction.