BUENA VISTA -- The Michigan Department of Transportation is asking motorists to slow down when they see a plow truck on the road.

NBC25 rode along with a long-time driver Sunday, who says safety is his top priority.

White outs and wipe outs!

The first snow storm is hitting Mid-Michigan and MDOT's “Snow Fighters” are on the roads battling the winter blast.

"Yeah we pretty much got three wet lanes down here," said MDOT Snow Plow Driver Dan Senske.

Dan Senske has worked as a snow plow driver for 11 years.

"I love my job because we're keeping roads safe and making sure families get to where they're going safe," said Senske.

 In a 12 hour shift Senske will drop more than 11 tons of salt.

There are two ways a driver can choose to disperse the salt, they can use the Y-Shoot which puts salt on the high ends of the road, or they can use the Spinner to put salt all over the road.

The process is a tedious one. Between the constant scrapping sound and snow hitting the windshield, Senske can get road weary.

"A lot of snow, it gets to your eyes after the day," said Senske.

But MDOT officials say Snow Fighters in Saginaw County give 100% on the job.

"At MDOT safety is our number one goal and we want everyone to get safely to their destination every time," said Gregg Brunner, the Bay City Transportation Manager for MDOT.

Senske asks other motorists to have the same mind set when traveling icy roads.

"Just slow down, even if the road looks good, there's slush on it, it's probably not too safe," said Senske.

MDOT says all 20 plow trucks are out on the roadways in Saginaw County right now.