A White Rock resident who has had three vehicles crash onto his property during winter snow storms in the past six years is hoping the city will do something about it.

Tom Craig, who lives on Sunset Drive, said Archibald Road should be shut down immediately when the snow starts to fall and more is expected.

鈥淎t some point, short little cones are put across the top of the street 鈥� I鈥檓 not sure if the city does that. But by the time somebody does something, it seems like it鈥檚 always after the fact,鈥� he said.

On Dec. 9, 2016, a truck went over a wall in their yard, he noted.

On Dec. 25, 2021, a car landed in a tree on the property.

READ MORE:

The most recent crash happened on Dec. 6 of this year, during another winter snow storm, when a Tesla 鈥渏umped the curb at the base of Archibald, flew over the neighbour鈥檚 garden, landing on the driveway beyond and then carried on another 20 feet through some bush and over our wall, landing on top of our shed, squashing it,鈥� Craig wrote in an email on Dec. 21 to White Rock mayor Megan Knight.

鈥淭he driver sustained spinal injuries and it took the ambulance four hours to get to him. This is the third vehicle that has landed on our property in six years.鈥�

Craig said he has spoken and written to city staff about having fences installed along the boulevard to help prevent such incidents from happening again in the future, but has not received any response.

Two vehicles have landed in his neighbour鈥檚 yard as well, he said.

鈥淲e have hardly started our winter here and there is a lot more time for more of these incidents unless something is done soon. We feel like we are in a shooting gallery when it snows,鈥� he wrote in his email to Knight.

He was lucky he had moved his truck prior to the most recent crash, Craig told Peace Arch News Wednesday, as the Tesla otherwise would have landed on his truck.

His neighbour, Dr. Mahsa Soraya, has lived in White Rock for 30 years.

Soraya also sent an email to Knight and others, including White Rock councillors, on Dec. 21, noting there are three routes out of her Sunset Drive home, but none had been cleared, plowed or salted by noon on Wednesday, after nearly 30 centimetres of snow fell overnight Tuesday.

鈥淐an at least just one of this side streets be cleaned please so we can leave the house safely,鈥� she wrote.

Knight responded in less than 40 minutes, telling Soraya that she, too lives on Sunset Drive and has for 20 years.

鈥淥ur street is not a priority route for the plowing, so what we have always done, along with our neighbours, when we get heavy snow in the forecast, is park on Marine Drive, because we know that is a priority route and we will be able to get in and out,鈥� Knight responded.

鈥淢y husband and I hand shovel the walkway at the bottom of Brearley Street, so we and our neighbours can walk down or up from Marine to our homes or vehicle. We did so again early this morning.

鈥淥ur crews are working as fast as they can, but with this amount of snowfall, it takes time. As of writing this email, I see now the plow has come along, so our street has now been plowed.

鈥淵ou should be able to leave safely now,鈥� the mayor wrote.

Soraya responded that she understands their road is not a priority, and that they understand to park their vehicles elsewhere when snow is expected. But with two elderly parents who cannot walk up or down steep hills to get to cars if they鈥檙e parked elsewhere, which means they must keep one vehicle in the garage in case of emergency, she noted.

Craig said he has not heard back from anybody in the city鈥檚 engineering department.

Peace Arch News has reached out to White Rock director of engineering and municipal operations Jim Gordon via email and phone.

Craig agreed it would be nice to have at least one route cleared for the neighbourhood鈥檚 residents.

鈥淢y concern is having some way to stop cars from breaching properties in this neighbourhood,鈥� Craig said.

tricia.weel@peacearchnews.com
Like us on and follow us on .