Ever wonder why...?

OK, now I'm perplexed.

Ever wonder why our Government does things sometimes the way they do? Well, here's one for you in that department...

Recently, during a 3-inch snowfall, I came up alongside a MnDOT snowplow working on US Highway 10 in suburban Coon Rapids. This was mid-afternoon, prior to the afternoon rush hour, so I was surprised when I came up to the plow, that although it was dropping the usual car-eating mixture of sand and salt, the blades were in the UP position, and not clearing the roadway of the quickly accumulating snow which was falling.

I thought that when snow accumulates on the roadway, that the resulting accumulation would be enough to warrant snow removal to begin, not just sand/salt distribution. Any car that tried to change lanes in that particular stretch would have been a great candidate for winding up in either the ditch, nose first, or into one of those oh-so-close wire barriers which the State installed last summer.

In either case, when the plows come out, shouldn't the blades be down when snow is present?

One would think so.