Do Snow Plows in the Hudson Valley Follow This Rule?

Have you heard of the "Second Shovel" rule? Do snow plows in your neighborhood follow it?

Lifelong Hudson Valley residents are well aware that living in the area comes with numerous challenges and during the winter months those challenges increase every time it snows. Depending on how the street you live on is set up, and how you move the snow off your driveway when it snows will have a lot to do with the answer you give when I ask you about the "Second Shovel".

What is the "Second Shovel?"

The second shovel is just like it sounds, it's the second time you have to go outside and shovel the end of your driveway after the town/city/county snow plow comes through your neighborhood and winds up covering the area you already shoveled. I can recall when I lived in Fishkill years ago the plows in my neighborhood were notorious for slamming the end of my driveway every time and I'm wondering if it's because I didn't take a simple step to avoid the second shovel.

How to Prevent the Second Shovel

New Yorkers aren't the only ones dealing with the second shovel because as you can see in the diagram above the folks in Greenwood, Missouri have also had to deal with it. The local police department in Greenwood posted the diagram the other day showing how "shovelers" in the area can avoid having to second shovel moving forward.

"Even the police have experienced having our home driveways plowed over by plow trucks. Our awesome Public Works guys provided this to us and we were all embarrassed by the simplicity of it. Rest assured, we will follow this and won't have to worry about the plows again."

 

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How to prevent the second shovel might take a little more work on your part but it will save you some back aches in the long run as long as the people who plow your neighborhood are following it as well. To prevent it all you need to do is clear the area to the left of your driveway so when the snow plows come by they can fill in the clearing with snow off the road therefore preventing the second shovel. The diagram doesn't say if the plow operates lift the plow or not when they pass a driveway but it does appear to be a simple step we can take to make shoveling a little easier.

Do Snow Plows in the Hudson Valley Follow This Rule?

We have sent messages to a few Hudson Valley DOT/Public Works departments to see if they follow this method or not but haven't heard back yet. Do you know if any towns/cities/counties in the Hudson Valley follow this or not? If you have any information email me at CJ@HUDSONVALLEYCOUNTRY.COM and I might use your info for a future article.