Road-clearing company denies responsibility for broken car window

Editor: We had an unfortunate incident with a VSA snowplow last spring and hope this letter will assist future motorists if their vehicle is damaged by a VSA plow.

On March 11, we were parked westbound at the washrooms on the summit of the Coquihalla. Before we exited our car, a VSA snowplow passed by in the westbound lane alongside the concrete barrier. Despite the concrete barrier between us and the main road we were hit heavily with a load of slush and ice. Luckily we weren’t exiting the car at that point as a chunk of ice may have maimed or killed the driver.

After examining our car for damage and seeing nothing obvious, we proceeded westbound on the highway. As we got up to speed, our rear window started to disintegrate. Upon examination, it was obvious the snowplow had shattered our back window.

Within five kilometres, the snowplow was parked alongside the road assisting a motorist. We stopped and informed the VSA employee of the damage from his plow. The employee filled out a card with his particulars and the snowplow licence. He also wrote “plow broke window.”

I declined to wait for a supervisor as I didn’t feel we were parked in a safe spot.

After paying the $300 deductible to ICBC for the repairs, ICBC said they would submit the claim to their commercial branch to have the $300 refunded. Long story short, VSA did not claim responsibility and ICBC being a monopoly would not go to bat for us.

Important lesson. If this happens to you, make sure the RCMP attends the scene and files a report. Otherwise VSA and ICBC will weasel out of their responsibilities to the motorist. John Bavin, Comox