‘Tis the season to be jolly…
If your merriment includes alcohol, please be smart about how you’re going to get from one party to the next or home at the end of the night. Since a couple of drinks have a way of changing the way you view your abilities, making a plan BEFORE the festivities begin is always the best option.
Information supplied by the Bureau of Budget and Business Systems
Do you find tinsel distracting? Do you enjoy proving yourself through feats of strengths? Maybe Festivus, the holiday bestowed upon the world by the 90’s comedy Seinfeld, is for you.
Many people would like to air their grievances about the speed at which others on the road around them are moving. With weather concerns and holiday parties, the combinations of tricky road conditions and impaired thinking are made so much worse when you add speed to the mix.
This time of year, the lines at area car washes grow on any day where temperatures rise. If you think keeping your personal vehicle maintained in Iowa’s winter conditions is tough, image how challenging it can be for the fleet of more than 900 snowplows maintained by the Iowa Department of Transportation.
Our snowplow trucks are out in the harshest of weather conditions, plowing snow and applying rock salt and brine, a salt and water mixture, to help keep you moving. Keeping roads clear takes its toll on the equipment.
“Each of our snowplow trucks costs about $170,000 to purchase. With more than 900 trucks in our fleet, that’s a very large investment,” said Tina Greenfield of the Maintenance Bureau. “Our goal is to keep each vehicle 12 to 15 years, so maintaining those vehicles in good working conditions is a top priority.”
Good partnerships benefit all those involved. Over the years, the Iowa Department of Transportation has developed some pretty unique solutions to improve wintertime mobility and highway safety using partnerships with dozens of farmers statewide.
Back in the 1980s, our field forces began working with farmers who held fields along state highways in open areas where the terrain is open and flat to create the standing corn program. The partnerships involved the farmer planting corn that can be left in fields during the winter to serve as snow fences that slow down or stop snow from blowing and drifting across the road. More recently, this cooperative effort has included using round bales as snow fences, as well.
Driver distraction has been an issue since the first vehicle tires hit the road. Whether the distraction was eating or drinking behind the wheel, dealing with a child in the backseat, holding a conversation with a passenger, or simply getting lost in thought, distractions are not new.
What has changed in the past decade is the increase in driver distraction caused by handheld devices. That mini-computer many can’t seem to put down opens up a world of communication and information at our fingertips but has also contributed to the rise in distracted driving crashes and fatalities.
