OWEGO, N.Y. -- It's not a job anyone with a driver's license can do.

"People don't realize what's going on in these trucks. All the things we have to do. We have to operate the plow, shift gears, answer the radio, there's a lot going on there," said Phillip Whitney, DOT snow plow driver.

Whitney is ten year veteran, but like everyone else who drives a snow plow for the DOT, it all starts in the classroom. The DOT is currently training five new hires to drive snow plows.

"The best quality in a snow plow driver are those that don't become overconfident. A snow plow operator has to be fully alert," said DOT equipment operator instruct Kevin Kresge.

Being too confident doesn't appear to be an issue. If anything, the new hires are humbled about what they've seen so far.

"Watching what they do, you just can't believe how much they really do on the roads. Until you sit next to one, you don't appreciate it," said trainee Venley McGregor.

Before McGregor and the other hires can hone their skills driving the plows, they have to spend time learning how it works. Not until then do they even get behind the wheel.

The snow plows are no doubt massive. It can go up to almost 11 feet in height, 14 to 15 feet in width, add to that 55,000 pounds of weight and you can imagine, it's pretty hard to handle, but that's where you and I can make a difference,

"To concentrate when people aren't giving us room to work, makes it kind of difficult at times. We can't stop on a dime, we've got all the salt on, all the iron on and they just need to give us some space to do our jobs," Whitney said.

And it's the same type of a team effort that goes a long way to making sure these drivers are prepared to plow the roads.

"We rely upon their co-workers to encourage them it can be done. We've been doing it this way for years," said Kresge.

There are about 30 DOT snow plow operators in the Southern Tier Region and all, regardless of experience, are required to take refresher courses on a yearly basis.