Photo: Stu Gallo
Damage caused to a truck by a flying rock hit by a weed
A West Kelowna man is frustrated after public works employees damaged his truck on Westbank First Nation lands.
Stu Gallo says he was driving along Sneena Road, along the curve between the WFN offices and the roundabout, when his truck was “totally smoked” by a flying rock on Wednesday morning.
The rock was thrown by the workers hitting the green space next to the road.
When Gallo contacted WFN to complain about the incident, he was told a sign had been erected warning drivers of flying debris.
But that sign, Gallo said, was a few feet from where the work was being done.
“So my options when I see that sign is to stop and block traffic or make an illegal turn. Or just proceed through the flying debris,” Gallo said.
“It is a matter of public safety. If that rock was a foot higher, it would have gone through one of the side windows of my truck, and there was my mother sitting in the front, and my one-year-old son in the back.”
Gallo said he was unable to get an apology or acknowledgment of the wrongdoing, noting that the weed-cutting work continued even after his truck was damaged.
“I said you need to think you need to review your policy or your hazard assessment here. And she just said ‘difficult to deal with mate,'” he continued.
Gallo says he feels the workers were being neglected.
“When you drive a weeder you can throw things to the left, or you can turn around and throw things right. When I weed, I don’t weed, so things fly into my house … these people were hitting weeds, so things get wrapped up in traffic,” he said.
Gallo suggested the road should have been closed for the duration of the work, or it should have been done at a less busy time, or at the very least, the warning sign could have been posted in a place that would have allowed a driver to turn around safely.
Gallo says he has filed a claim with ICBC for the damage to his truck.
WFN’s communications department did not respond to a request for comment on the situation.