Tools for Improving Visibility for Snow Plowing
The ability for snowplow operators to see ahead and around their equipment is crucial to the safe and efficient clearing and treatment of roadways during storm events. Under poor visibility, a plow operator may lose situational awareness of their surroundings, which includes other vehicles, the edge or center of the roadway, ditches, curbs, and so forth. Aside from the direct safety impacts on the travelling public in the form of a potential crash, the loss of visibility by plow operators means a need to pay even closer attention to their environment, leading to increased fatigue, stress, etc. Low visibility also increases the likelihood of striking minor objects, such as concrete curbing, leading to the potential for operator injuries to occur, not to mention infrastructure damage. There is a need for research to investigate the available technologies that can be employed in-vehicle to improve the visibility of the roadway environment for plow operators. As autonomous vehicles become more sophisticated, the technologies they employ to view the roadway are likely transferable to activities like snow plowing. The application of these technologies (i.e., a Global Positioning System [GPS], different types of cameras, other sensors) to snowplows would provide operators with improved visibility of the road ahead. However, until an investigation is made into what technologies are available, their capabilities and costs, what agencies within Minnesota and nationally may be already using them, among other questions, the potential for widespread application of such devices remains largely untapped. The primary benefit of this research will be an understanding of the technologies and products that are available to assist plow operators in seeing the road ahead and the associated costs of those technologies.
Language
- English
Project
- Status: Active
- Funding: $89,672.00
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Contract Numbers:
1062467
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Sponsor Organizations:
395 John Ireland Boulevard
St. Paul, Minnesota United States 55155-1899 -
Managing Organizations:
Minnesota Department of Transportation
395 John Ireland Blvd
St. Paul, Minnesota United States 55155 -
Performing Organizations:
Center for Transportation Research and Education
2711 South Loop Drive, Suite 4700
Ames, IA United States 50010-8664 -
Principal Investigators:
Veneziano, David
- Start Date: 20260710
- Expected Completion Date: 20280630
- Actual Completion Date: 0
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Cameras; Drivers; Navigational aids; Safety; Snowplows; Technology assessment; Visibility
- Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01999927
- Record Type: Research project
- Source Agency: Minnesota Department of Transportation
- Contract Numbers: 1062467
- Files: RIP, STATEDOT
- Created Date: Aug 19 2026 3:18PM