Shane Mark got an unpleasant surprise driving down Davis Drive in June.
The East Gwillimbury resident, who lives near the Newmarket border, hit a water main cover sticking out on the road. Unable to see it, he said it blew out his tire, forcing him to swerve to the side of the road.
“It was very scary in the moment,” Mark said. “I did not see it, I did not expect it, and it freaked me out.”
It is not something that should have happened, Mark said, and caused more than $2,000 in damages to his vehicle. But he will be stuck paying the cost, including his insurance deductible, with the municipality not taking any responsibility for the matter, he said.
Mark described a challenging process on the matter. He said his insurance company considers him at fault because he supposedly could have swerved to avoid it. He will also be facing a higher insurance cost. They suggested he contact the municipality, as well.
“They said since it’s avoidable, you have to be paying your deductible on your car, which for me was $1,000,” he said. “They didn’t even want to hear me out … (the cover) was very hard to see.”
Mark said he was not the only one that hit it that night. Dash-cam footage shows another driver behind him also struck the cover and had to pull over, and also had a tire blown out.
When Mark messaged the municipality, emails showed the town agreed to investigate the matter. But their response was ultimately to deny his request for compensation, citing a lack of evidence for negligence on the town’s part.
“For your claim to be successful against the Town of Newmarket, you must prove that the Town of Newmarket was negligent in some way,” municipal claims and risk analyst Sharon Geniole wrote to Mark, in a letter he provided to NewmarketToday. “I have reviewed the incident with Town of Newmarket public works staff and confirmed there was no work being conducted on or near Davis Drive that would have required the removal of the water valve box that is alleged to have caused damage to your vehicle. As such, there would have been no prior knowledge or actions on behalf of the town to constitute negligence.”
But Mark is not satisfied with the reply.
“I feel the town’s response was very unfair,” he said. “I feel that I should have been reimbursed for this issue. I feel like the cover should have just been secured properly in the first place, it shouldn’t have been in the middle of the road.”
Asked to respond to the matter, the municipality said it was unfortunate that vehicles were damaged. The town further said it is in contact with the individuals to further review this matter.
"It is a very rare occurrence that a water box lid would come loose," the municipality said. "Staff responded to replace the lid as soon as possible after being made aware that there was a missing lid. There have been no reported complaints or issues regarding this water box lid since it was replaced."
Mark said it was a dangerous incident that could have been worse for a smaller vehicle or motorcycle.
“Someone could have gotten hurt, most definitely,” he said.
