Another danger of life in snow country

Living in snow country, winter never really lets you forget how dangerous it can be, and some news from the Joetsu area of Niigata this week re-emphasized that for me. A 74-year-old man was killed after being struck by a large city-operated snowplow while clearing snow outside his home, on an ordinary morning, on a residential road, during a task most people here do without thinking twice.

For those of us who live out here, snow removal is part of daily life. We shovel before work, clear roofs, and share narrow roads with heavy machinery brought in to keep towns functioning. This incident was one of those reminders that winter risks aren't only limited to mountains or extreme conditions, but can be right outside our front doors.

I recently wrote here on City-Cost about the dangers of backcountry skiing, and about serious injuries caused by slips and falls while clearing snow. This tragedy sits alongside those risks. Snowplows operate with limited visibility, roads are tight, and timing matters. If you have a millisecond of miscommunication or poor visibility, you can end up with devastating consequences, like what happened in this situation.