While it has been somewhat of a mild winter so far this year in the Sioux Falls area, there have been a few winter weather events that have required the use of snowplows.

Each year snowplows across the country can easily fall victim to being struck by other motor vehicles as the plows are on the roadways doing their job. It's common for plows to kick up a snow cloud around it,  which can quickly obscure the view of the plow to the public.

As Dakota News Now reports, to help combat the risk on South Dakota roads and highways, the state Department of Transportation is running a pilot program that has placed a blue light in place of one of the left rear lights on 25 plows in northeastern South Dakota.

Mark Peterson, a Regional Engineer for the South Dakota Department of Transportation told Dakota News Now, “Blue light has been studied and shown to pierce the fog, low light conditions, and snow clouds a little bit better.”

Plow drivers participating in the pilot program have already reported a big difference in terms of driver safety here in South Dakota and across the country.

According to Peterson, "Traffic has seemed to react to it faster, so they don’t run into the back of the plows or get surprised when they come upon them.”

The primary goal of the program is to give drivers more time to react, which will hopefully help to reduce the number of plow and motor vehicle-related accidents each year.

Source: Dakota News Now

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