It may seem harmless enough, but when you push snow across a road surface into the opposite ditch, or directly onto roads, you may be putting your friends and neighbours at risk.
When the tires of a vehicle encounter the ridges left on the road from snow being pushed across it, or they hit piles of snow deliberately placed on the road, it can cause the driver to lose control. The tires of their vehicles temporarily lose contact with the road, traction and steering is affected, and very quickly a mishap can occur causing damage to the vehicle and harm to its occupants.
The County’s Traffic Bylaw 009-2018, Section C, subsections 1, 2 and 3 refer to causing damage to roads, creating an obstruction on a road, and pushing snow, dirt or any other material from a property or ditch across a roadway.
The bylaw is not only in place to protect the condition of the roads but sets guidelines to increase safety for the driving public. Quite simply, when the driving surface is altered in some way safety is affected.
Keeping the snow on your own property is a safer option for everyone. Athabasca County asks that all property owners remember this when clearing snow this winter.
As an additional reminder to drivers, frozen roads are quite different to drive on than a regular gravel road and additional caution should be observed. Although the maximum speed limit on our roads is 80 km/h we encourage drivers to slow down and drive according to road conditions.
We want everyone to get where they are going safely and just want to remind everyone that the speed you drive has a bearing on vehicle control.
