It is not a city bylaw or a neighborhood courtesy. It is in the Michigan Vehicle Code, it carries a civil fine of up to a hundred dollars, and it applies to the contractor clearing your driveway exactly as it applies to you. It also, by its own definitions, does not apply to the municipal plow — which is the answer to the question everyone actually has.
A description of the statute, not legal advice. Operators arranged through this site are independent businesses responsible for their own compliance.
Section 677a of the Michigan Vehicle Code, Act 300 of 1949, is titled “Obstruction of safety vision by removal or deposit of snow, ice, or slush.” It was added in 1978 and amended by Act 382 of 2020, effective October 1, 2021. The operative text:
(1) As used in this section: (a) “Person” does not include the state or a political subdivision of the state or an employee of the state or a political subdivision of the state operating within the scope of his duties. (b) “Safety vision” means an unobstructed line of sight enabling a driver to travel upon, enter, or exit a roadway in a safe manner.
(2) A person shall not remove, or cause to be removed, snow, ice, or slush onto or across a roadway or the shoulder of the roadway in a manner which obstructs the safety vision of the driver of a motor vehicle other than off-road vehicles.
(3) A person shall not deposit, or cause to be deposited, snow, ice, or slush onto or across a roadway or the shoulder of the roadway in a manner which obstructs the safety vision of the driver of a motor vehicle.
(4) A person shall not deposit, or cause to be deposited, snow, ice or slush on any roadway or highway.
(5) A person who violates this section is responsible for a civil infraction and shall be ordered to pay a civil fine of not more than $100.00.
Subsection (4) is the broad one, and it is worth reading twice. Subsections (2) and (3) turn on whether a driver’s sight line is obstructed. Subsection (4) has no such qualifier — depositing snow on a roadway is prohibited full stop, obstruction or not.
Note also “or cause to be removed.” Hiring someone does not move the exposure onto them alone.
Here is the clause that explains the most common winter grievance in this metro. Subsection (1)(a) defines “person” to exclude the state, a political subdivision of the state, and their employees operating within the scope of their duties.
A city crew and a county road commission driver are not “persons” for the purposes of this section. So the same act — moving a mass of snow across the end of a driveway — is a civil infraction when a homeowner or a contractor does it toward the road, and outside the statute entirely when a municipal plow does it toward your apron.
That asymmetry is deliberate, and the road commissions are candid about relying on it. The Kent County Road Commission describes snow deposited onto driveways during plowing as “a necessary evil” of winter maintenance and tells residents to expect it. Grandville states on the record that the city will not avoid re-depositing street snow into driveways. Neither is being dismissive; there is no way to plow a road at speed without the windrow going somewhere.
The useful response is not a complaint but a technique. KCRC’s own advice: pile your snow on the right-hand side of the driveway as you face the road. The next pass then carries it away from the apron rather than back across it.
States it plainly: snow from a private driveway may not be placed on or crossed into a city street. The city’s plow priority runs primary and collector streets and emergency routes first, then residential, then cul-de-sacs, and it does not clear driveways.
Residents are prohibited from shoveling snow into streets or sidewalks, and must keep 60 inches of clear space around fire hydrants.
Takes the same approach for pathways rather than roads: § 389-9 bars depositing snow, ice or slush onto a non-motorized pathway without written township permission, with penalties to $500 and 90 days under § 389-16.
§ 10.9 bars moving or depositing snow so as to interfere with an adjoining owner’s driveway or access walk — and a licensed contractor can lose its city license over it.
The practical upshot for anyone buying snow removal: ask where the snow is going to go. “Across the road” is not an available answer, and an operator who treats the street as a snow dump is creating exposure for the property owner as well as themselves. On a narrow lot with a full driveway, stacking space is a real constraint by February and it belongs in the conversation in October. What that does to a quote.
Driveway length, how much room there is to stack, and whether the road is a city street or a county road.
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