HANLONTOWN, Iowa - According to the Iowa Department Of Transportation about 75 percent of collisions with snow plows are either rear end Collison’s or side swipe colleens, but thanks to a new pilot program they are seeing a decrease

In an effort to help reduce crashes, flashing blue and white lights have been installed on the back of some snow plows in Iowa as an added safety feature.

DOT field services coordinator Pete Hjelmstead says before they started the program in 2015, one crash happened every 2800 hours and with the lights and one crash happened every 8300 hours.

Paul Fergason has worked as highway technician for the past 10 years and says he has seen a huge difference with the lights.

“The white and blue light has come to be recognized that we are a slower moving vehicle trying to keep the transportation moving."

Currently there are a total of 170 trucks in district one with the blue and white lights and 6 of those trucks are in Hanlontown.

State lawmakers are currently discussing a bill to allow flashing blue and white lights to be added to 650 DOT snow plows.