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Syracuse Drivers Preparing For Winter Central New York Drivers Preparing For The Winter Ahead

By Brendon Hodges

MARTIN VOSS (SOT)
This is kids stuff though, I mean we’re not into…last year this time we had twenty inches of snow already.

BRENDON HODGES (Track 1)
WHILE TWENTY INCHES OF SNOW HAVEN’T FALLEN YET, SYRACUSE IS STILL
BRACING FOR WHAT’S TO COME. BECAUSE WHEN YOU LIVE IN ONE OF AMERICA’S
SNOWIEST CITIES, YOU KNOW THAT TWENTY INCHES IS JUST A FRACTION OF
WHAT AN AVERAGE WINTER HAS IN STORE FOR YOU.

MARTIN VOSS (SOT)
120 is what we normally expect to get and…we have 802 miles of county highway we’re
responsible for and we parcel off about 100 of that to the towns and villages…we also pick
up about 200 miles of state road that we plow for them.

BRENDON HODGES (Track 2)
BUT WHILE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATIONS EFFORTS HELP CLEAR THE
ROADS, IT’S UP TO DRIVERS THEMSELVES TO PREPARE THEIR OWN CARS. SOME,
INCLUDING SYRACUSE RESIDENT DUSTIN BESTUL LEARNED SOME OF THESE
METHODS THE HARD WAY.

DUSTIN BESTUL (SOT)
Checking the antifreeze, because a lot of people in the summertime, they will just put
water in there and obviously water freezes…I just about lost my engine because of that.

BRENDON HODGES (Track 3)
DRIVERS CAN ALSO MAKE SURE THEIR CAR HAS ITS BATTERY INSPECTED, HAS
GOOD WINDSHIELD WIPERS AND APPROPRIATE TIRES.

BRENDON HODGES (STANDUP)
When it comes down to it though it’s not about the equipment you have or how much snow
you get off your front or back windshield when you start to drive. It’s more about just getting behind the wheel, and getting to where you want to go as safe as possible.

BRENDON HODGES (Track 4)
FOR BESTUL THAT CAN BE DESCRIBED WITH ONE WORD.

DUSTIN BESTUL (SOT)
Cautious, slowing everything down leaving earlier than I would normally…you know I just
keep a lot of distance…and I’m not willing to risk me or my children’s lives over it.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) — Central New Yorkers got their first taste of winter weather today. Still, according to Martin Voss, the Commissioner of the Onondaga County Department of Transportation, it was only a small one.

“One-hundred twenty [inches of snow] is what we normally expect to get.” Voss said. “We have 802 miles of county highway we’re responsible for and we parcel off about 100 of that to the towns and villages. We also pick up about 200 miles of state road that we plow for them.”

While the Department of Transportation takes on the responsibility for preparing the roads for and clearing them of snow, being safe on those roads before and after falls upon the drivers who use them. Part of doing that means making sure the car itself is prepared for winter weather with antifreeze, appropriate tires and windshield wipers, along with a brush and ice scraper to help clean off the outside of a car. For Syracuse residents like Dustin Bestul though, there’s so much more to driving in the winter than how the car operates. It’s more about how he operates.

 

“Cautious.” Bestul said. “Slowing everything down, leaving earlier than I would normally. Really it’s just a lot of timing and logistics.”

For Bestul  caution is the most important thing a driver can have when winter weather strikes and he’s observed some driver with it and others without it.

“I see a lot of drivers who grew up  in an area where there’s not a lot of snow you see that they’re being more cautious.” Bestul said. “Meanwhile you’ll hear people say, ‘well, they don’t know how to drive in the snow’. Then you have people who grew up in it everyday and I’ve noticed they’re the ones I see in the ditches or causing accidents because they say, ‘I’ve done this a thousand times.'”

The affect of seeing that? More caution.

“I just try to stay away.” Bestul said. “I just keep a lot of distance. I don’t know who they are, what their driving abilities are and I’m not willing to risk me or my children’s lives over it.”

 

 

http://dashboards.syrgov.net/snow/snowplow_map.html

 

 

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