"Holy Snowplow Batman"; What is wrong with this picture?

What do you see in this picture that shouldn't be?   Want a hint?  Look at the shoulder of the road, look at it all the way to the horizon.  What do you notice?  In many places it is completely free of snow.  Now look at the driving lane, what do you see?  There is melting activity taking place but it is not as clean as the shoulder.  In fact, on my first trip down this road, the driving lane was still snow covered but the shoulder was melted.  How does this happen?  Could be several reasons, maybe equipment related but more likely driver error; i.e. traveling too fast when applying material, salt distributing device (Y-chute, spinner, etc.)) at wrong setting.  With decreasing revenues for governmental agencies resulting in tight budgets & the rising costs of labor and materials; i.e. salt at over $60.00 per ton,  prewet agents at $0.80 per gallon or more, diesel fuel at $3.50 to $3.75 per gallon, and the driver wages at over $20.00 per hour & more with benefits, you should not be applying deicing agents to the shoulder of the road as it offers zero return on the investment.   This should not happen, agencies have spent countless hours and dollars in training employees on proper salting techniques, including the expectation of the end result when performing snow & ice removal operations.   Sometimes folks need to be reminded that paying attention to detail is a good thing and "the little things really do count".  At the end of the day, what you do really does matter.  Happy New Year!