PARMA, Ohio — A dangerous reminder early Thursday morning in Parma after a city plow truck was hit while protecting a road crew.
The crew was patching potholes on State Road around 1 a.m. when a pickup truck slammed into the back of the plow, injuring both the pickup driver and the plow driver.
The crash underscores how vulnerable workers are in active work zones.
“Early morning hours, 1 a.m., so we know it's dark. The plow truck was stationary with all lights activated, and again it was acting as a barrier, thankfully, to protect the crew in front of it, repairing the potholes,” said Scott Traxler, public information officer with Parma Police.
Parma Police said the 30-year-old pickup driver had to be extricated and was taken to Metro Hospital. The plow driver suffered minor injuries and was transported to UH Parma.
Investigators are still working to determine whether impairment played a role.
“I’m glad that they had that plow truck there to act as that barrier. We want everyone to be safe, not just the crews out there working to repair roads, but drivers themselves,” Traxler said.
Crashes like this are happening across the state.
“We were hit 84 times in 2024, we were hit 125 times last year, and we’ve already been hit 36 times here in 2026,” said Matt Bruning, press secretary for the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Those numbers have pushed ODOT to explore new technologies to keep plow drivers out of harm’s way.
The “Drive Ohio” initiative would allow a plow truck protecting a crew to operate autonomously in a work zone, removing the driver from the vehicle while it follows a digitally linked lead vehicle.
“It would continue to follow whatever vehicle was in front of it that’s linked digitally to it in autonomous mode,” Bruning said.
The technology is still in the testing phase at the Transportation Research Center. Officials said it would not be used to plow snow, only to serve as a protective barrier for road crews.
This time of year, crews across the state are either out plowing snow or patching potholes. Officials are reminding drivers, it’s simple, and it’s the law: move over or slow down.
