 The calendar just turned to fall but the Minnesota Department of Transportation is already looking ahead to winter. Mindad is holding a two week training session with over 100 people who will be driving snow plows this coming winter. The intensive training taking place at Camp Ripley in Little Falls highlights a number of safety measures, plowing techniques and best practices all in preparation for the harsh Minnesota winter. First and foremost they're trying to keep the road safe for for both themselves and the and the motoring public. And there's a lot of different components within the truck that they have to pay attention to as well as dealing with you know the trap more traffic out there the you know there's mailboxes there's a snow cloud kicked up when they're plowing so there's just a lot of things they have to take on into consideration when they're out there working. And all over 1500 snow plow operators are put to work to clear more than 30,000 miles of road in Minnesota over the winter. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland public television.