New Michigan law: Keep 200 feet from snowplows or face $100 fine
- Gov. Whitmer signed a law in July that discourages drivers from driving too close to snowplows
- The new law makes it illegal to drive within 200 feet of a snowplow
- Drivers can be fined up to $100 for breaking the law
Michigan drivers should keep their distance from snowplows this winter. It's not just a common-sense way to avoid deadly crashes with the heavy vehicles. It's also now the law.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in July signed a new measure making it illegal for drivers to be within 200 feet of a snowplow — about 13 car lengths — or within 20 feet of a snowplow stopped at an intersection.
Violators could be fined up to $100.
As with other road safety laws, officers who see a motorist driving too close to a snowplow will have the discretion to give a verbal warning or issue a ticket, said Mike Shaw, public information officer for the Michigan State Police.
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“When the plows are plowing, they're actually generating a snow cloud around it, which covers that distance (200 feet) so a lot of drivers hopefully try not to drive that close but they put themselves in a position where they can be,” he said.
The Michigan State Police suggests drivers slow down when approaching a snowplow and give them plenty of space. In general, you shouldn’t pass a snowplow and should move over for stopped ones.
Why? Because snowplows can do a lot of damage.
For starters, they’re very heavy. They weigh up to 30 tons, or 60,000 pounds, compared with about two tons for most passenger vehicles.
Snowplows also have sharp blades that can "tear apart" smaller vehicles, including wing plows that extend beyond the truck's width that can seem "invisible," according to the state.
Sponsoring state Sen. Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, has said he hopes the law will deter potential crashes.
"We believe this bill will make it safer for both snowplow operators and motorists and reduce the number of crashes, which hopefully will save money for our local road agencies and keep the plows on the road clearing snow," Chris Young, an aide to Singh, said earlier this year in committee testimony.
Young said the bill was inspired by a Wisconsin law, which fines motorists up to $175 for driving within 200 feet of a snowplow on highways when the speed limit is 35 mph or higher.
Snowplow-related crashes remain relatively rare in Michigan, but officials say they have become more frequent in recent years, prompting a push for the new law. There were 20 crashes involving a snowplow in 2021 and 19 in 2022, according to the nonpartisan Senate Fiscal Agency.
The new law was backed by the Michigan County Road Commission, which contends it will save local governments money.
"The relationship between distance and time is something that is a learned relationship," Adam Tountas of the Michigan County Road Commission Self Insurance Pool said in committee testimony.
"Two hundred feet seems like an awfully long distance at first blush, but when you think about the fact that a passenger vehicle travels 88 feet a second at 60 miles an hour and travels 66 feet a second at 45 miles an hour, the relationship starts to be a little bit more clear."
Snowplow season is officially underway in Michigan, where several parts of the state received significant snowfall over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with more expected on the way this week.
The western part of the state could receive between 1 and 4 inches of lake effect snow beginning Monday night. Some parts of the region could receive upwards of 12 inches of snow.
Northern Michigan will also be hit with some lake effect snow, between 4 to 8 inches overnight. The National Weather Service forecasts snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. The Grand Traverse Bay region will be hit the hardest and could get more than 8 inches of snow.
In the Upper Peninsula, between 2 and 6 inches of snow is expected but it could reach up to 10 inches in some areas.
Southeast Michigan is expected to see snow Wednesday.
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