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The New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) is launching a snowplow naming contest! Help us to start naming our snowplows! New Mexicans are some of the most creative, punny and witty people on the planet, that is why we want the public to send us their best names!
We depend on our fleet to serve our communities and make the roads safer for the traveling public, so we think our trucks should have some awesome names!
We encourage you to submit a unique, fun, winter-themed or New Mexico inspired snowplow name.
Submissions will be accepted now through Friday, December 22, 2023, at noon!
The contest includes a few basic rules:
- Each person may only submit one name.
- Submissions are limited to no more than 20 characters (including letters and spaces).
- Nothing vulgar please. Any submissions containing profanity or other inappropriate language will not be considered.
- Politically inspired names (including phrases, slogans or plays on politicians’ names) will not be considered. We are keeping this contest nonpartisan and free of politics. Naming snowplows is meant to be fun and lighthearted.
NMDOT Communication staff will review all submissions, select the most creative and inspiring names, and then invite the public to vote on their favorites starting December 29, 2023. Once voting is wrapped up, the top six names with the most votes will be announced, assigned to a snowplow and winners will receive bragging rights for a lifetime!
The origin of naming snowplows…Â
Fans across the world are embracing the return of an annual Scottish tradition that has captured the hearts of hundreds of thousands of social media fans: the naming of the nation's slow plows and salt trucks — and the ability to track the fleet online. Following Scottish traditions other nations and states such as New Mexico are also implementing the tradition.Â
Called "gritters," the salt trucks and plows that keep the 400-plus miles of Scotland roads snow-free have for years been subject to a public naming process that sees the vehicles dubbed creative and pun-filed names like David Plowie, Gritney Spears and Gritter Thunberg.
And, just like the annual naming tradition, the fleet of plows and salt trucks goes viral each year—a Thursday afternoon post on X about the gritter fleet had almost 800,000 views by Friday afternoon and similar tweets have gone viral in years past.
The public has until Jan. 16 to submit name suggestions for this year’s campaign to Amey Limited, the company that runs Scotlands salt trucks, and the newly named trucks will join classics like Skid Vicious, Sweet Child O’ Brine and Gritallica.
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