SALT LAKE CITY - In response to Governor Walker’s declaration on Winter Weather Preparedness Week, the Utah Department of Transportation advises motorists to adjust driving behaviors during winter weather.

Snow, sleet and ice on the road require drivers to be more diligent, attentive and cautious in their driving behavior. Winter driving conditions can turn small mistakes into serious problems.

"Our primary concerns during the winter months are the safety and mobility of motorists," said Carlos Braceras, Deputy Director for the Utah Department of Transportation. "We do everything we can to keep the state’s highways safe for motorists and clear of snow. However, our snowplow drivers frequently talk about the risky driving behavior they see while they’re out plowing Utah’s roadways."

The following tips will help motorists stay safe on the roads this winter:

• Never attempt to pass a snowplow. Let them go ahead of you while they clear the road for you and other motorists 
• Don’t get between snowplows while they’re plowing in tandem
• Stay at least 200 feet behind a snowplow
• Slow down and be courteous
• Remove snow and ice from all of your windows before you get on the road
• Increase your following distance behind other vehicles
• Minimize lane changes
• Check commuterlink.utah.gov to see road conditions via real-time traffic cameras
• Call 511 to hear about road conditions on your route

DID YOU KNOW:

• UDOT has pop-up sprinklers along Knudsen’s Corner, which is prone to icy conditions. These devices have built-in sensors that spray the road with an ice inhibitor when the roadway gets to a certain condition. This treatment makes the road safer by preventing ice from forming.
• UDOT actively monitors minute-to-minute weather conditions via weather stations along highways across the state. These weather stations measure valuable information such as the pavement temperature, the precipitation (differentiating between snow and rain), the wind speed and air temperature. This information is then relayed to the Traffic Operations Center and to snow plow drivers, so the right resources can be directed to the most critical areas.
• UDOT uses state-of-the-art snowplows equipped with video cameras mounted on the side of the truck. A small video monitor inside the cab helps the driver be more aware of approaching vehicles, the plow angle and his surroundings.
• UDOT crews start the snow removal process before the snow even falls. Crews spray salt brine on the roads before a snowstorm hits. If forecasters predict a snowstorm will hit the valley within 24 hours, UDOT crews pre-treat the road with this watery solution. While many people think that spraying a watery solution on the roads will make them icy or slick, the salt brine actually lowers the freezing point of the roads, making the snow less likely to stick to the roads.

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