Armed with safety tips, Unity Township workers will treat snowy roads using 9 loaner plow trucks
Snowplow drivers far outnumbered the available plow trucks Tuesday at the Unity Township municipal building, where retired state police Lt. John Rock presented a defensive driver's course.
“I was a little surprised when they decided to go forward with the program even though they had the fleet of trucks destroyed by the fire. But I am really impressed they did,” said Rock, who lives in nearby Crabtree.
A fire Sept. 24 destroyed the township's public works garage, causing at least $4.5 million in damage and demolishing seven trucks. The fire was ruled an arson and remains under investigation by state police.
Supervisors Chairman John Mylant said the township has authorized spending more than $1.2 million and ordered seven new trucks. But the vehicles aren't scheduled for delivery until late January or early February.
He noted the township has benefited from the generosity of neighboring communities. Brush Valley in Indiana County and Monroeville in Allegheny County, and the townships of Derry, Hempfield, Ligonier, Mt. Pleasant and Penn in Westmoreland, have “loaned” Unity a total of nine trucks.
“We may be lean on (truck) size, but we still will be plowing. And the big thing is we wanted to keep it business as usual for the guys,” Mylant said.
“Also, our residents shouldn't be alarmed when they see a truck with a label from another municipality on their street,” he quipped.
Mylant said the defensive driver program benefits both employees and residents.
“(Rock) does a great job with the program. And we want to provide our residents with the best service as possible, and driver safety is a very large part of that,” he said.
About 20 drivers attended the nearly two-hour program presented by Rock, who worked 25 years as a state trooper before his retirement in 2008, and his assistant, Dianna Marcinik. The two have presented driver training programs and seminars to private businesses and municipal government agencies throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia for more than 20 years.
Rock and Marcinik use newspaper clippings, television news videos, police reconstruction diagrams of crashes and Rock's experience investigating 85 fatal wrecks to emphasize the dangers of distractions, impairment, texting while driving and seat belt safety.
Longtime driver Jody Shaffer was so taken by the program that he approached Rock afterward to ask about future programs that his sons, who are in their 20s, could attend.
“It was really a terrific program and presented in a way that keeps your attention,” Shaffer said. “Everybody can use this information.”
Paul Peirce is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-2860, ppeirce@tribweb.com or via Twitter @ppeirce_trib.
