New Jersey, Others Consider Fining Drivers Who Fail to Remove Snow From Vehicles

By Michele Fuetsch, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the Feb. 9 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

New Jersey is poised to adopt a law that would fine drivers who fail to clear snow and ice from their vehicle rooftops, while the District of Columbia and Connecticut are taking steps down a similar legislative path.

The District on Feb. 3 told police to being writing warning citations to drivers lugging snow and ice until the city can come up with a schedule of fines for a permanent statute.

In New Jersey, a bill adopted by the state Senate would, if approved by the Assembly, fine drivers $25 to $75 for not sweeping their rooftops.

“There’s a lot of public support for it,” said Gail Toth, executive director of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, who predicted passage of the legislation.

“It is about safety,” Toth said. “It wasn’t a direct assault on the trucking industry.”

The bill has been approved by the state Assembly’s Transportation Committee, but the proposal raises a host of unintended consequences that the state’s trucking industry is addressing with legislators, said Toth.

“We’ve got to do it in a way that we’re not replacing one unsafe thing with another unsafe thing,” she said.

There are worker safety issues having to do with snow removal and roadside safety issues if truckers have to stop to remove snow and ice, Toth said.

At the same time New Jersey and the nation’s capital are wrestling with snow and ice, Connecticut legislators are addressing the issue too, preparing legislation that would require drivers to clear snow and ice from vehicles.

The flurry of snow bills comes on the heels of a study by the American Transportation Research Institute that shows rooftop snow and ice pose several safety problems.

The study said that flying chunks of accumulated snow and ice can cause damage and injury. But the study also found there are dangers for drivers and terminal workers removing the frozen precipitation.

“The issue is that there are [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] regulations that if you ask a worker to climb a certain amount of feet into the air, you have to have a railing around the truck [roof],” said Rebecca Brewster, president of ATRI.

The ATRI study was commissioned by American Trucking Associations in response to trucking industry officials who were concerned about the dangers.

“I think we need to do something about it,” said Michael Riley, president of the Motor Transport Association of Connecticut. He and Brewster plan to present the ATRI study to the Connecticut State Legislature.

As evidenced by the ATRI report it commissioned, ATA takes the snow and ice issue very seriously, said John Lynch, ATA vice president in charge of federation relations.

“We need to work with all interested parties to come up with the best solution,” Lynch said.

New Jersey’s experience in crafting legislation is a road map to the intricacies of snow issues, Toth said.

For example, she asked how trucks would get access to washing stations where snow and ice can be removed.

Toth’s group already has persuaded sponsors of the New Jersey bill to include an amendment that would direct the fines to a state fund to purchase snow removal devices that could be installed in truck stops.

That’s meant to discourage towns from ticketing drivers simply to raise revenues, she said. Also, she said there should be provisions for trucks loaded with snow and ice making their way to washing stations.

And thus far, the proposed legislation does not address what happens to truckers who pick up trailers covered with snow and ice. Toth asked who bears responsibility for clearing off those rooftops.

Legislators, Toth said, recognize “the difficulty for the trucking industry” and are trying to mitigate the effect, particularly in the sour economy.

The ultimate solution, said Toth, lies 30 years down the road in truck and trailer designs.

“Most trailers have a long life expectancy,” she said, adding that in a poor economy few trucking firms can afford to invest in new trailers or in snow removal devices.

Brewster believes the problem can be solved sooner. The solution to snow and ice problems lies in three stages, Brewster said.

The immediate solution is to educate truckers and the public to the hazards. The interim step is to explore what devices are available for snow and ice removal and to explore ways to set up removal or washing stations for trucks.

The long-term solution is what Brewster calls a vehicle-based one, meaning that trucks and trailers will have to be designed differently, perhaps with defrosting devices.

The vehicle-based solution, Brewster said, “is where the greatest potential exists because then it travels with the vehicle.”