What does it take to keep the roads safe in the worst of winter?
We went out with Kevin Brett from the Town of Orangeville’s Winter Operations team to bring their story to residents in the most easily accessible and readily available format – digital video. We output versions for horizontal and vertical platforms – from YouTube to Instagram / TikTok.
Safety… is a recurring theme in the stories we tell for clients. We have produced videos and photography for the aviation and the energy sector to help meet important safety communication objectives. It was a pleasure to spend some time with the people responsible for winter operations here at home. The shot above was made using a Canon 300mm f2.8L lens – the kind you usually see on the sidelines of a major sporting event.
Aerial sequences are important for providing a sense of scale in our production. Take not of the drone’s position following the snowplough here: we are flying over an uncrowded sidewalk, not over the roadway or residences where we don’t have permission… these are the rules and we’ve witnessed drone operators break them. We go out of our way to produce engaging photography and video within safe, legal parameters because when things go wrong in the air, they can potentially cause a major problem on the ground.
Full video transcript:
Hi, I’m Kevin Brett with the Winter Operations team for the Town of Orangeville. Our teams respond to snow and ice storms and other winter weather here in Orangeville. We know keeping the roads safe and the sidewalks safe when the weather is at its worst is important to you, as it’s important to us. Here are a few things we do to keep the roads safe. When snow or ice is in the forecast… when possible, we pre-treat the roads with sand and salt to avoid ice and snow accumulation on the streets. While this may make your vehicle dirty. It keeps the roads safe. As the snow falls, we send our snow plows out to clear the snow. We prioritize the main roads first and then we move into residential streets. Depending on how quickly the snow accumulates, we may have to stop plowing the residential streets and return to the main roads. Sometimes the conditions are so poor that we have to wait for the storm to finish before we can send the snow plows into the residential streets. When this happens it’s to keep the drivers safe. If the weather conditions keep the plows off the roads, consider staying home as well. With more than 8,000 residences in Orangeville spread across more than 240 streets, our team is dedicated to keeping the town safe for walkers, drivers and everyone in between as quickly, safely, and efficiently as possible. There are a few things you can do to keep our roads and sidewalks safe. Follow the winter parking regulations. If a plow cannot complete the street due to parked vehicles… and our sidewalk plows cannot get by a vehicle hanging out on the driveway. The roads and sidewalks cannot be cleared, and these cars may even be ticketed. Be ready to shovel the windrow left behind after the street has been plowed. While these are a pain, they are an outcome of snow plows. Windrows are the leftover snow at the end of the driveway, that the snow plow leaves after plowing your street. Keep all objects like basketball nets, hockey nets, garbage cans and other items off the streets and sidewalks. Our teams work hard to plow all the streets in Orangeville as quickly and as safely as possible. We appreciate your patience when the snow falls. You can find real-time updates on how we’re responding to the snow in Orangeville at orangeville.ca/snow.