Plow operator urges drivers to keep distance
REGINA — When Clarence Hilliar leaves for work, his wife, Korine, kisses him goodbye, tells him she loves him and urges him to stay safe.
Clarence, a 20-year snowplow veteran, has had lots of close calls, but on Jan. 9, 2011, he was rear-ended by a semi and almost didn’t make it home to Korine.
Travelling west on the Trans-Canada Highway toward Balgonie, Hilliar was clearing snow drifts in the passing lane. A semi was trying to pass a half-ton truck in the driving lane, but didn’t see the snowplow, which was obscured in a cloud of snow.
Hilliar looked in his mirror and saw the truck’s grille. He knew a collision was imminent.
“I sat back in the seat and braced for it,” he told reporters Wednesday. “It just happened within seconds. … That’s actually the first ac- cident I’ve been in.”
Travelling about 110 kilometres an hour, the semi clipped the back right-hand corner of the snowplow. The semi driver tried to veer back into the right lane, but it was too late. Debris scattered everywhere.
When Hilliar tried to counter-steer the plow, he hit a guard rail.
Shaking, the Lipton-area man jumped out of the plow and flagged people to slow down to prevent further collisions. Fortunately, both drivers walked away uninjured. A few days later, Hilliar got back behind the wheel of the snowplow.
“I was a little gun shy for quite a while — even still, you maybe keep more of an eye on traffic as you’re plowing snow and treating ice,” he said. “We’re a big truck. We need lots of room. You hope people stay back and stay safe.”
On a 14-hour shift, he can travel up to 800 km in the 29-tonne snowplow.
“In a good day’s storm, you probably have at least 10 near-misses,” Hilliar said. “The key to it is that you’ve got to keep your eyes on the traffic behind you and in front of you.”
Every winter, snowplows are hit by motorists who don’t see them or see them too late. Since 1998, there have been 58 collisions be- tween motorists and snowplows in Saskatchewan.
Hilliar said road and weather conditions can change rapidly.
“A plow can hit a drift and it can knock the front of the truck over a foot easily within a second,” Hilliar said. “If you’ve got a car going by you, that foot gets pretty close.”
At times, snowplows travel as slow as 30 km/h when spreading salt. The slower pace infuriates some motorists.
“There’s a lot of road rage out there some days,” Hilliar said.
He reminds motorists that snowplows pull over every 10 to 15 km to allow vehicles to pass.
Snowplows can create whiteout conditions in their wake, obscuring the plow from sight despite the checkerboard truck boxes and flashing lights. Motorists who approach a sudden whiteout should be aware that a snowplow is likely ahead.
Legislation passed in 2009 requires drivers to slow down to 60 km/h when passing a snowplow with warning lights flashing, whether it’s in operation or stopped on the side of the road.
Highways and Infrastructure Minister Don McMorris said Hilliar is one of nearly 600 snowplow drivers who face the daily dan- gers of high winds, blowing snow, whiteout conditions and snow and ice-covered roadways.
“One of the biggest hazards he faces every day isn’t necessarily the conditions, but other drivers on the road,” McMorris said.
The province has about 300 snowplows that operate from 85 maintenance sections before, during and after storms.
Korine Hilliar recalled her husband’s co-worker bringing him home after his snowplow was hit by the semi.
“I was wondering why a highway truck was driving into the yard,” she said. “Clarence got out and he was just white. His co-worker told me what happened and said they didn’t want him driving. I was just about in tears.”
When snow and freezing rain make highways slick, she lives in fear.
“I worry for everyone’s safety, not just his safety,” Korine said.