Stepping out into the harsh conditions of winter to clear snow and ice from a vehicle is one of cruelest necessities nature can levy upon us.
Sure, it can be awful tempting to just take care of your windows and get on your way, but here’s a little incentive to make sure you clean off the top of your ride too: It could save you money on insurance premiums down the road.
Tristan Brown was making his way down the 401 in Trenton, Ontario, when a chunk of ice broke off from the top of a merging transport truck and smashed his windshield.
“It was like it was in slow motion,” Brown told The Toronto Star. “You could just see it and I knew right away that it was going to hit my truck if I slowed down or sped up. I just saw it coming. It was surreal almost.”
Brown was lucky to avoid injury and/or injuring other drivers. It’s not just a problem with large commercial vehicles either.
Driving an SUV does not give you the right to leave a sedan sized snow pile on the top of your car #Toronto pic.twitter.com/S6hMDcYcAG
— Matthew Cole (@matthewcole22) December 19, 2016
This incident and others like it raise an important question: What are the repercussions for endangering others by failing to remove snow and ice from an automobile?
In Brown’s case, the Star reported that the damage to his Ford F-150 totaled $1,144. Brown was able to flag down the driver of the truck where the ice broke off from and they settled the matter through insurance companies.
As an Ontario Provincial Police constable told the Star, these types of incidents fall under the motor vehicle collision classification. “When the damage done to the secondary vehicle is under $2,000 the drivers exchange information and it’s up to them to settle the claim through their insurance company,” Const. Juliane Porritt told the Star.
So we all want to save money on insurance policies, right? Let’s consider the safety of others on the road when breaking out the ice scraper next time, too.
Image via Flickr/nmahieu
