Wyoming’s snowplows are getting ‘lightsaber’ green beacons

The original story by Andrew Rossi for Cowboy State Daily.

This winter, WYDOT plows will roll with long, glowing green “whip” lights — think lightsabers in a whiteout — to make them impossible to miss.

District 5 in northwest Wyoming is first out of the gate, using the new lights while clearing WY 28 over South Pass during last week’s storm, spokesperson Cody Beers said. The state previously used flashing blue, but is switching because green — around 532 nanometers — is easier for human eyes to pick up.

Besides green flashers on the rear, WYDOT is mounting vertical LED whip lights on the right edge of tow and wing plows. Those plows can stick up to 8 feet out from the truck and are frequent strike points.

“If you see a vertical bar of green floating in the snow, it’s attached to a plow,” Beers said.

The move follows a run of costly hits: 25 snowplow strikes in 2022–23, 13 in 2023–24, and 15 in 2024–25, including three trucks sidelined in a single January 2025 weekend. Many crashes wreck plows and sanders even when trucks survive.

“We installed the whips on tow and wing plows because they’re the parts most often hit,” said Jordan Young, WYDOT deputy public affairs officer.

The lights won’t solve everything — ice can still cake over them — but they should boost visibility. The bigger fix, WYDOT says, is driver behavior.

“Give plow trucks a brake — literally,” Beers said.

Slow down, don’t pass in the spray, and wait until a plow pulls over.

The green glow isn’t a Jedi rescue. It’s WYDOT trying to keep drivers — and plow crews — alive and the highways open.