Leanne Smith considers herself lucky to be alive.
Just before 11 a.m. on Nov. 28, Smith was driving on Highway 1 near Abbotsford when a tire from a dump truck on the opposite side of the highway careened toward her vehicle.
“There was no time. It all happened so fast,” she says. “If it hit on the drive’s side … that would have probably killed me.”
She watched as the tire came across the grass separating the highway lanes and in a split second, it struck the roof of her vehicle.
“It was like a bomb went off because the tire hit the hood of the car and then the airbags blew up,” the Chilliwack resident recalls. “The next thing I know is the car is filled with powder.”
Shen then remembers being taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
“It was very scary and I just don’t know how someone can be so careless,” she says. “It just could have been a totally catastrophic accident.”
BC Highway Patrol and Commercial Vehicle and Safety Enforcement (CVSE) officers investigated and determined the 60-year-old driver made a false pre-trip report.
Cpl. Michael McLaughlin with BC Highway Patrol says RCMP and CVSE have fined the dump truck driver and the company, which are both based in Delta.
Nearly $700 in fines were issued to the driver, for the false pre-trip report and for not having a vehicle that is appropriate for the highway.
The truck has also been removed from the road and a mandatory inspection has been ordered at the truck company’s expense.
“BC Highway Patrol does not take a positive view when there are preventable issues that lead to a collision like this. That’s why we laid a lot of fines,” says McLaughlin. “When we have a situation when the wheels on a truck literally come off, obviously we take that extremely seriously.”
Police have not identified the trucking company or the driver.
“It really pisses me off ... they get a little slap on the wrist with a $700 little fine, which could have been a life-changing event for all of us,” says Smith.
Miraculously, Smith managed to drive her vehicle off the highway preventing any further collisions.
"I don't know if it's years of instinct or an angel on my shoulder, but I managed to get the car off the side of the road somehow,” she tells Glacier Media.
She does not have any broken bones but whiplash and lots of bruising.
"I have trouble falling asleep sometimes because I can't help but think about it,” she says. "He's still got his normal life to go back to and I'll have to go for probably physio and treatments and I might have to go for counselling to try and deal with this. But he goes on with his life normally, and this could have been totally avoided.”
Smith says the driver did not speak to her when the crash occurred, but she does have a message for him.
"You want to be a truck driver, you take responsibility for your job so you don't put other people in this situation. You're driving a lethal weapon and in this case, I was lucky, but somebody else may not have been."
Smith is questioning why the fines for the wheels coming off are not higher in B.C.
In Ontario, wheel separations are considered a serious offence and commercial drivers can face fines between $2,000 and $50,000.
Glacier Media asked the Ministry of Transportation if higher fines would be considered or if the driver would face any more fines. It was also asked if there were any prior investigations taking place against the commercial truck company. Glacier Media did not receive a response by publication time.
"It's just $700 is nothing. It's nothing,” Smith says. "It's changed our lives and affected us... It's just not fair."
