Like many people who had to brave snowy conditions this week, Tom Berthiaume was just trying to get to work Wednesday morning. But a run-in with three state plow trucks turned his commute into a messy, car-crunching lesson on what happens when you tangle with a modern-day road-clearing colossus.
Traveling south from Northfield on Interstate 93 to his job in Londonderry, Berthiaume said, he saw a triangle of state plow trucks merging from Route 101 about 6:45 a.m.
As the plows began moving across the highway toward his vehicle, Berthiaume tried to outrun them, he said, but the plows kept coming, prompting him to slow down to let them pass.
Berthiaume said he spun out and hit the guardrail while the plows drove on.
No one was hurt in the incident, and Berthiaume’s car sustained minor damage that he figures he can fix himself. But Berthiaume, along with his wife, Laurie, are frustrated by the state’s response to the incident.
“They told us plows have the right of way, and that’s it,” Laurie Berthiaume said. “But what if he had spun out and hit the rail and died? Would anyone have known it was because of the plow?”
Bill Boynton, public information officer for the state Department of Transportation, said it’s true the state sees several close calls with plow trucks every winter, although he didn’t have exact numbers. He did know, however, that at least three incidents with DOT plows occured yesterday.
He also said he did not have a chance to look into the Berthiaume’s incident – he’d been out with a plow all morning on Interstate 95 with Gov. Chris Sununu, seeing firsthand how people drive around plows and how tricky plow drivers’ jobs can be.
“These people have a tremendous amount of responsibility,” Boynton said. “They have to contend with working with other plows, holding the line in teams, poor visibility and handling the controls at the same time.”
Laurie Berthiaume said several people have told her of their own near misses with plows since she posted pictures of her husband’s damaged vehicle on Facebook.
“People feel like they’re trying to mess with you,” she said.
Boynton said he was skeptical plows were moving fast enough to catch Tom Berthiaume, a former plow driver for the town of Litchfield, off guard – they typically move 25 to 35 mph because of snowy conditions and are cumbersome, unable to stop quickly even at slower speeds.
Boynton said he understands slow-moving plows can frustrate motorists, but their work is important for the public’s safety.
“The first thing I would say is to not try to speed past plows, especially when they’re working in pairs,” he said. “We tell people the safest place to be is behind a plow, because they’re clearing the roads for you.”
Boynton also noted the state has a “move over” law for any emergency vehicles or yellow DOT lights. Two years ago, he said, at least 20 police cruisers were hit by vehicles during the winter months, and a few plows were hit too.
“You’re supposed to move over for a work zone,” he said, “and in a way, plows are a moving work zone.”
“We often get asked about why we tandem plow, or plow multiple lanes at once,” he added. “A single plow can create lanes of snow, which is also a dangerous driving condition.”
(Caitlin Andrews can be reached at 369-3309, candrews@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @ActualCAndrews.)