BARRHEAD - A County of Barrhead resident says the municipality needs to do more to prevent people from clearing snow from their driveways and approaches and pushing it onto the roadways.
Dennis Kasowsky, who lives near the Busby border, told councillors during their Feb. 4 meeting: "I don't know why they don't push the snow to the sides of their driveway instead of pushing it onto the road."
Kasowsky told councillors about a close call about two years ago when he was driving home, and he had driven through a snow lump from someone clearing snow off their driveway by pushing it onto the roadway.
"I hit that and went completely across the road, hitting a vehicle," he said, adding he was going about 70 km/h.
Fortunately, Kasowsky said, no one was seriously hurt in the collision, but it could have easily been much worse.
"If I had hit the lump any sooner, I would have hit the other vehicle head-on," he said.
Kaspersky said he has looked through the county's bylaws and couldn't find anything that prohibited people from clearing their snow onto roadways.
"It is a safety issue," he said, adding it is hazardous when a person clears their snow by pushing it onto a gravel road. "A policy or bylaw needs to be put in place."
Reeve Doug Drozd said the municipality's Traffic Bylaw council approved in early December, addresses the issue, referring to Section 8.1.
The section states: "Unless authorization has been obtained from the CAO, or designate, or unless otherwise permitted by any bylaw, no person shall place, maintain, or cause to be placed or maintained on any highway, including the boulevard, anything which obstructs the free use of such highway, including the boulevard."
"We had a long discussion about it at our committee meetings, including if we needed more precise wording about snow obstruction," Drozd said. "In the end, and council accepted that this is the proper language under the [Alberta Traffic Safety Act] as it is all-inclusive of hazards."
County manager Debbie Oyarzun said they've also included more specific language in the Community Standards Bylaw, which is still in the draft phase, to enhance what is already in the Traffic Bylaw.
Public works manager Travis Wierenga said when his department receives a complaint about someone who pushes snow onto the road, they try to be very proactive and speak to the resident.
"Typically, after we talk to them, they are pretty responsive because they don't want to create a hazard, but if they were to keep doing it, we would get [the community peace officer Shae Guy] involved," he said.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
