UDOT asking drivers to give snowplows space


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OGDEN — Another warning from the Utah Department of Transportation to drivers: give their snowplow drivers space. This comes after several close calls on the road, including a UDOT snowplow driver being forced off the road and over a 300-foot drop.

On Saturday, UDOT shared a video recorded on Jan. 5 that shows another close call between a snowplow and a passenger vehicle.

A dash-mounted camera inside the UDOT plow captured the scene as a small white car passes the plow on the right at the 31st Street on-ramp in Ogden. The driver momentarily loses control, but manages to steer out of the slide.

Amazingly, no one was hurt.

“It came right through the blind side,” said UDOT snowplow driver Grant Johnson, who was driving the plow in the Ogden incident. “I hit the brakes and hoped I wouldn't hit him.”

Johnson said the driver who spun out in front of him never stopped.

The video was released just two days after another UDOT snowplow was clipped by a passing semi-truck in Spanish Fork Canyon, sending the plow down a 300-foot embankment.

Johnson said incidents like this are happening more often.

“I think I'm seeing more of it,” Johnson said. “I'm thinking people are more distracted with their electronic devices and they're in such a big hurry.”

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Johnson said drivers should not put time ahead of safety on the road and try to pass a snowplow.

“This guy saved two seconds and he did get in front of the plow, but he could have cost himself his life, other people their lives or my life,” he said.

UDOT plow drivers advise all drivers should stay at least 100 feet behind plows for safety.

The driver of the snowplow in Thursday's crash, Terry Jacobson, is in fair condition at Utah Valley Hospital. Troopers said the truck driver who clipped Jacobson's truck stopped immediately and is cooperating with investigators.

Johnson said the most important thing to remember is to slow down on the road.

“People just need to slow down,” he said. “We're only clearing this road so that they can get to where they're going safely, and they've got to give us the opportunity to do that.”

Contributing: Xoel Cardenas

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