BEHIND THE WHEEL: A DAY AS A SNOW PLOW DRIVER

Davey O'Brien said he loves his job. His favorite part:"plowing snow. O'Brien has worked as Caltrans operator for 23 years and said his expertise is getting rid of the snow off the ground. "We start in the center and we work our way out,” O’Brien said. “Sometime there's two of us and we'll go in tandem."He adds that often there's only one driver in an area at a time. And when that happens:"We just go back and forth, back and forth," he said.He adds that it never gets old and that he enjoys keeping the road safe for travelers."One time there were 10 cars waiting because it was snowing. He says the cars were waiting to follow his plow, but he was having trouble himself."I couldn't see exactly where I was going,” O’Brien said. “So I did the best I could."Once he led the drivers over the hill, he headed back to his original location."And once I saw my path— I saw that I had went back and forth, back and forth,” he said. “But I got everyone to safety."O'Brien did so by maneuvering the plow to get the snow to a location away from the drivers. Then sand from the back of the truck hits the spinner and then disperses on the road. The sand has parts of salt and volcanic rock in it. "We put the volcanic rock in there so the public can see that we've been sanding," O’Brien said. O’Brien said that there’s never a dull moment, and that when he retires in two years, plowing the snow is what he'll miss the most about his job.