On Nov. 23 of 2009 I and about 21 other vehicles hit the same pothole at about 6 p.m. on Highway 97 heading toward town, across from the canopy company.
I have been sending letters and communicating with YRB and their claims adjuster to try and get my money back for my damages.
I ended up sending four letters, of which I had to phone back after each letter to see what was happening. When I phoned the last time, about three weeks ago, they said they were not taking any responsibility for the accident. They are not prepared to pay me anything because they don't think there was any negligence on their part. I asked for a letter stating this which I received on Aug. 12.
To this day, I still have flashbacks of the accident when I drive in this area. I really think they should be taking responsibility for their mistake.
In that letter they are claiming that Yellowhead has specific time lines from the time they know about the pothole, which is 24 hours in which to fix it. They claim that a patrol passed that area at 5 p.m. at which time everything was normal. He said the patrol received a call at 5:15 p.m. of the pothole and the crew was dispatched at 5:22 p.m. with the repairs completed by 6 p.m.
They are saying they did it in the allotted time. They may have completed the repair by 6 p.m. but the pavement wouldn't have been hardened by then.
When the cars all drove over the newly-repaired pothole, due to the weight of the cars, it became a large pothole again.
I believe YRB didn't think of that fact or chose not to. ICBC hasn't done anything to this point. A lot of people had flat tires, blow-outs like I did with brand new tires I might add. I also saw broken rims some split in half rolling down the road. It could not have been 6 p.m. when they fixed it because I was still waiting for a tow truck as well as other people. I also had to wait for a cab.
I would appreciate all who were involved with accident to come forward. Please e-mail me back with any information you may have or suggestions. My e-mail is wiens.shirley90@gmail.com.
Shirley Wiens
Prince George
