Driving a snow plow isn’t the easiest thing. Working for the county I learned berm breaking for runoff with a drop plow, it was not easy. After a couple years of gouged driveway and dragging large clumps of dirt across my yard I decided to help the driver. In the mountains they use snow poles so I put this bamboo pole up. It was freshly painted, VERY visible, lighter than fiberglass poles and cost far less.
The following day I received a call from a community administrator saying I needed to remove the pole because someone complained. I explained why I put the pole up and said I would remove it gladly if they guaranteed me the snow plow wouldn’t damage my driveway or cut into the grass. They explained that was impossible, I said we would see how effective the pole was before I removed it and as long as the pole was up, no problems.
There was a long pause after my statement and the administrator said… “Look, the snow plow could throw the pole through your neighbors picture window!” I liked that neighbor but the physics didn’t add up. If the drop blade snow plow threw the pole it would be in the same direction as travel with a downward vector as drop blades throw the snow downward. The picture window on the other hand was 65 feet in the opposite direction and 5 feet off the ground to the bottom and up a 4 to 5 foot hill.
There’s a formula for the projectile force of a front snow plow, I couldn’t find one for a drop plow but here’s the numbers if you want to try. The pole weighs 5.5 OZ and is 56 Inches long, The truck travels 10 to 15 MPH , the drop blade is 14 inches to the top and a symmetrical curve, the window is double pane, 4 feet tall by 5 feet wide, 5 feet off the ground and 9 feet above the road surface at 65 feet from where the pole was located and the angle of impact would be about 49 degrees.
Maybe the administrator though that being from Manchester, Michigan I would automatically believe what they said? In the light of reality and a 10th grade science education, it doesn’t seem plausible.
Maybe the administrator thought they were Oliver Stone, “The magic bullet enters the President’s back, headed downward at an angle of 17 degrees. It then moves upward in order to leave Kennedy’s body from the front of his neck – his neck wound number two – where it waits 1.6 seconds, turns right and continues into Connally’s body at the rear of his right armpit – wound number three. Then, the bullet heads downward at an angle of 27 degrees, shattering Connally’s fifth rib and leaving from the right side of his chest – wounds four and five. The bullet continues downward and then enters Connally’s right wrist – wound number six – shattering the radius bone. It then enters his left thigh – wound number seven – from which it later falls out and is found in almost “pristine” condition on a stretcher in a corridor of Parkland Hospital.” JFK, Oliver Stone 1991
But, what do you think, should I have believed the magic pole theory?
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