Deer Ridge residents got to put away their shovels this week as Team Bellerose stepped in to clear their snow.
About 70 Outdoor Education students at Bellerose Composite went out this week to clear snow from sidewalks and driveways near their school as a charitable exercise.
The students wanted to do something charitable for the holidays, said Outdoor Ed teacher Doug Kennedy, so he suggested that they go out and shovel driveways – something he’d done in the past with students at Lorne Akins. The students already had shovels with them this week as part of their winter survival training, so shovelling fit nicely with the course.
The students distributed fliers telling neighbours about the initiative and giving them the option to opt out. (No one did.) They then split into groups of four and fanned out across the neighbourhood, clearing about 30 homes in total per day.
“For the most part, we get really good reviews,” Kennedy said of the reaction from residents, although some try to pay them (and others think they’re stealing their shovels). “We don’t want any money,” he added, although they do accept donations for the food bank.
The students went out shovelling twice last week and might do so again this week, Kennedy said.
“This is one of the only times some of these kids will have to do anything charity-wise,” Kennedy said. “To get nothing back and to give of yourself is the most important lesson I think we can teach them.”
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Ronald Harvey students will get up close and personal with the plows that clear Alberta’s highways next week – provided it doesn’t snow, of course.
Alberta Transportation is set to hold a Show Off the Plows event this Monday at Ronald Harvey Elementary. The event is one of three similar events this month that have been twice delayed due to heavy snowfall.
The events are meant to show students how the plows work and how to drive safely around them, said Rob Huston, the Alberta Transportation engineer that supervises provincial plows in the St. Albert region.
There are about 600 plows under contract with the province to clear provincial highways, Huston said. On a road like Hwy. 2, the plows go out whenever three centimetres or more of snow have fallen and have 24 hours to clear it completely. Roads like the Anthony Henday are cleared much more often. “They’re out there non-stop.”
Plow operators use a combination of wind meters, infrared sensors and the weather report to figure out what sorts of sand and salt to put down, said Glenn Fehsl, a supervisor with Carillion Canada (the contractor that plows highways for the province).
Even though plows are highly visible on the highways due to their flashing lights, Fehsl said they still get a number of drivers hitting them every year. “We’ve had a lot of rear-enders, guys that just aren’t paying attention.”
If you see a plow behind you, Fehsl recommends that you carry on driving – plow operators usually plod along at 50 kilometres an hour or less, and won’t try to pass you. If you see one in front of you, slow down and keep at least three car-lengths behind it to avoid getting hit by sand or gravel.
Passing a plow is a bad idea, Huston says, as it usually sends up a spray of snow that makes it impossible to see oncoming traffic. Plow operators will pull over every five kilometres to let cars pass. “The biggest issue is to stay patient.”
The plows were scheduled to be at Ronald Harvey Monday from 11 a.m. to 12 noon.
