During winter moving around tends to become a messy affair as snow falls and piles up
, so that even getting your car out of your garage is a problem. Even if you manage to get the car moving and on to the street, moving on the snow covered road is next to impossible. That said removal of snow from the road surface is important for vehicle movement. This can be done several ways.
The first way that residential snow removal can be achieved is by treating the road with chemicals such as salt which causes snow on the road to melt at very low temperatures and whose application can be done pre or post snowfalls. Other materials that can be applied include brash and sand whose main purpose is to improve the traction of vehicles wheels to the road. These materials achieve this by making the road's surface irregular thus increasing the road's traction. In some cases both salt and sand or brash are applied on the road together so that the melting of the snow can occur while maintaining the traction of the road's surface.
Another way that residential snow removal can be achieved is through physical removal. Individuals can physically remove snow and frost by using scoops, sleigh shovels and snow pushers. This is usually a good means of removing the snow when the area to be covered is not that large as it is labor intensive.
The next way that residential snow removal can be done is by use of contractors. Contractors come into play especially when there are heavy snow storms and heavy machinery is needed to move the snow and frost from the surface of the road. During heavy snow fall it becomes impractical to move the snow by hand thus the need for heavy machinery.
In other cases in snow removal is done by the authorities in places that receive constant and heavy snowfall during winter. In heavy snow storms, snow may cause snow emergencies to be declared, drivers are required not to park on both sides of the roads to make it easy for snow moving and emergency vehicles to move with ease.
During snow removal an important precaution that is taken is the erection of flags, poles and lane markers which prevent the damage of private property and public utilities such as hydrants.