The Dangers of Winter Driving
During times of heavy snowfall, roads become risky. Accidents increase due to reduced visibility and traction, congestion worsens as lanes and roads are closed either for incidents or road maintenance, and traffic slows down as drivers try to navigate around hazards. Winter driving can be difficult at the best of times, but with all these factors in play, it becomes incredibly difficult for emergency service vehicles to reach their destinations.
Practicing Snow Safety
So, what can cities do in the face of heavy snowfall? Without proper snow clearing they face the risk of business closures, prolonged power outages, road dangers, injuries, and more, so it’s imperative that emergency snow removal is performed quickly and thoroughly.
For snow removal, we of course rely on snowplows and their operators, but the distribution and coordination of these resources present several problems of their own:
Which areas have been plowed? Are there any obstacles that present themselves, such as blocked routes? Are extra resources, staff, or vehicles required to get the job done?
The Challenge of Snow Removal
Snowfall incidents soon become problems for cities. These must be resolved quickly, or else they risk splintering into inconveniences like shop closures and lack of navigation, and even more serious issues with lengthy consequences, such as power outages and limited emergency services. This is why cities tend to use systems like snowplows that can tackle big snow clearing jobs and maintain winter road safety.
However, a traditional snowplow system brings many challenges along with its benefits, and these can often hamper a city’s ability to mobilize soon enough against heavy snowfall:
- Communication Complications: Lines of communication can be difficult to maintain during a storm, which is a problem when risks run high and the situation is constantly changing. A traditional snowplow management system lacks backup communication lines during emergencies, so drivers often can’t communicate important real time updates such as roads blocked by fallen trees or a need for assistance. This loss of communication prevents coordination, leads to delays in snow clearing services, and consequently risks the disruption or endangerment of civilian life.
- Time Waste: When snow is piling high, the clock is ticking. To gather a snowplow force of the necessary size, dispatchers using traditional, manual methods must go down a list of snowplow operators and call each individually to check their availability. Even if they choose to send a general message to their list instead, the dispatcher must then individually engage each operator if they receive too many positive responses and end up with a force that’s too big for the snow removal job.
- Lack of Preparedness: Cities must be able to launch effective plans for snow removal and storm cleanup whenever a weather incident occurs. Using a manual operator system often limits how these plans are executed. For instance, operators may need to shift attention from crucial jobs and potentially dire situations to share all essential information. This interruption in snow removal may be enough to change the situation again, requiring further effort to relay additional messages.
- Impact on Emergency Services: Clear roads are a requirement not only for the community, but for emergency responders. Any delays in their movement (such as snowy roads or blocked routes) pose a very real threat to their response times, endangering the lives of civilians who have injuries, life-threatening illnesses, or who have suffered accidents or emergencies.
Snow Safety Made Simple: Introducing SimplyCast’s Snowplow Operator Recall Use Case
After identifying the challenges of emergency snow removal and storm clean up, SimplyCast designed the Snowplow Operator Recall use case: an all-in-one solution for snowplow communication, coordination, and deployment that can be used by any city.
To keep dispatchers and command staff up to date with the most current picture of events, our system makes use of Command Hub: SimplyCast's emergency command dashboard, from which you can access everything you need, from emergency alerts and their settings to incoming updates, to live surveys, automatically generated situational reports, and more.
This invaluable tool provides real time updates and compiles critical information that can be used to inform snow clearing and storm cleanup strategies, keeping your snowplows one step ahead of the situation as it develops.
Safer Communities and Winter Driving with Coordinated Snowplows
By digitizing weather event plans, SimplyCast’s platform provides Smart Cities with a comprehensive system for managing adverse weather based on existing storm cleanup procedures:
- Digitized plans transform into snow clearing response dashboards that offer comprehensive situational overviews to snowplow dispatch and management.
- The operator recall system centralizes situational and environmental intel provided by snowplow operators and other responders, ensuring all information related to the event is easily and immediately available from one dashboard.
How Digitized Snow Clearing Plans Make for Safer Cities
SimplyCast’s Snowplow Operator Recall use case equips Smart Cities with a framework to enhance their storm cleanup strategies. Designed to integrate with existing systems and infrastructure, SimplyCast helps Smart Cities elevate their procedures, so their emergency snow removal responses (and response times) are not just optimized, but constantly improving.
Here are just a few of our favorite benefits to this use case:
- Faster Response Times: Equipped with all the information they need even as it updates, dispatchers and situation managers can better assign snowplows to snow removal jobs. Better yet, this information is at their fingertips on a centralized dashboard, so they don’t have to waste time searching for the data they need. With the click of a button, plow operator command can ensure vital streets are cleared and monitor key information across multiple platforms in real time.
- Enhanced Communications: Plow operators and their dispatchers can keep lines open and get in touch right away, even when some channels are affected by the weather. SimplyCast’s platform is compatible with multiple communication channels, and incoming communications can be accessed via the centralized emergency dashboard.
- Improved Focus: By eliminating the manual tasks associated with deploying snowplows, Smart Cities can refocus their staff on higher priority tasks that require their expertise and attention.
- Real Time Data Integration: New situational data (such as areas with icy patches or flooding) is automatically integrated into the platform’s records, meaning dispatchers are given immediate access to new developments as they arise.
The Future of Snowplow Operator Recall in Smart Cities
With that, we’ve seen the key role snowplow operator management plays in the development of Smart Cities. From quicker emergency responses, to helping your community adapt to developing conditions, to informed dispatchers and operators, to improved civilian safety overall, we now know the importance of an optimized system that can deploy storm cleanup and emergency snow removal at a moment’s notice. SimplyCast can provide all of this, and all in one place.
Not only that, but the SimplyCast platform is designed to adapt depending on a city’s needs. Weather patterns will change, new technology will be developed, new techniques will be discovered, and with these changes, cities will face new, difficult challenges that they must learn to overcome. As cities grow, procedures must also adapt to accommodate new population sizes. With SimplyCast, it’s as easy as scaling the system up or down as needed for complete coverage of your communities.
Let’s Grow Together!
SimplyCast intends to make this journey alongside Smart Cities, helping their response procedures to develop and evolve in the face of any inconvenience or threat.
Want to see how? Contact us today for your free demo! Our experts are excited to answer your questions and let you see the platform.