CFN – Traffic was down for hours on Lefebvre Street near Water as power lines were taken down by an alleged speeding Minimax Express truck pulled lines down on the narrow domestic street.
Why a Minimax Express truck was on the street still seems a mystery?
For Ron Kyer it meant 17 hours without power and a bill he’s expecting to arrive at between
$1500 – $2000 according to the electrician that got his juice going again.
That meant no air conditioning or cooking for the senior and his wife.
His neighbors, Vee & JP offered to store some of his freezer goods.
Cornwall Police stated that this was not a criminal situation. Cornwall Electric also seemed to duck with Mr. Mike Pescod suggesting that its the homeowners responsibility to have their electrical connection at the right height.
He did not state that Cornwall Electric would pay for damages; but suggested Mr. Kyer could file a claim with them.
Ms Desaulniers said that firefighters on the scene shared that there are several streets in the East End that the city will be repairing that have incidents with low hanging wires.
As the sparks lit up the street a neighbor actually drove after the Minimax driver and confirmed a license plate. Mr. James MacPherson of Minimax said the company had no comment after some preliminary questions to CFN. He said he didn’t think the company was responsible for damages blaming low wires. Also the street did not have a no trucks sign.
It sounds like everyone is passing the buck? Surely Mr. Kyer should not have to pay a bill in this situation or see his homeowners insurance go up?
And if this is a city issue with low hanging wires how much will it cost to fix all that need fixing in the East End? Maybe it’s time to put up some signs for Truck Drivers to find better arteries to race down?
Minimax was the recipient of monies from the Province. Premier Kathleen Wynne visited the company at their Cornwall office recently where she herself drove a big rig; although she did not rip down any hydro wires.
What do you think dear viewers of CFN? You can post your comments below.
Now let me see you cannot connect to the city grid with out them making that connection so if this is true then the connection was approved by the utility maybe the road was raised over the years or maybe the specs were changed OR MAYBE THE POWER LINE ON THE HYDRO SIDE WAS LOWERED WHILE DOING WORK ON THE GRID . Hard to blame a truck driver hard to put the onus on the home owner unless the utility suggest people start reaching for there power line with measuring sticks or maybe a kite with a key on it lol whoopee but should not the utility or the city be checking these things ahead of a problem there could have been fatalities.
A vehicle with a fiberglass isolated pole driven once a year down every street to me makes sense would it not !
BY LAW ARE YOU NOT SUPPOSE TO REPORT ANY MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT OVER A CERTAIN PRICE AND SUBMIT A POLICE REPORT AND SINCE HE WAS IN A MOVING VEHICLE IT APPEARS AT LEAST THE POLICE SHOULD FULLY INVESTIGATE AS A HIT AND RUN AFTER ALL THERE COULD HAVE BEEN CASUALTIES FROM FLYING WIRE
You nailed every single issue on the head! The blame on the driver exists SOLELY due to the fact that speed was absolutely a factor which is in his own control, and two because he took off even when 10 or so people were flagging him down and a car followed him honking and waving to get his attention while he continued to drive away. I think is ludicrous to expect ANY homeowner to be responsible for the height of wires on their home IF they are in fact attached properly, and put up by designated utility company which in this case they were. It wasn’t raised by more than maybe 4 inches AFTER they fixed the wire only on one side still leaving it pretty low in the centre as they droop down. It’s like that on the entire street. Is that the truckers fault?! No! He nicked several low hanging wires banging th against ppls homes and causing sparks , but because of speed he hit a low spot in the pavement after hitting our wires causing truck to bounce and essentially what lead to a near fatality! Someone most definitely could have been killed and I’m thankful that I was not getting my family into the car at that time for my 5 and 2 year olds could have been seriously injured or worse. This is no light matter and in my opinion him fleeing was done because he knew damn well that he was speeding on a city street and knew he was hitting wires and to book it out of there fast he kept on going. Then to have the trailer plates be changed and him fly off the handle requiring police to have proof before coming back to his work meanwhile company acknowledges allegedly that they did have a driver in this area at that time on that night because his lady friend lives on our street apparently shows to me that the driver knew he was in the wrong! If by nothing else he was strictly wrong for leaving a scene after causing a live electrical wire to be ripped off of a home. Why not stop?! If not for fear of reprimand!
Thanks for coming today to help Mr Kyer have a louder voice I sincerely appreciate it!
What a ripoff that Cornwall Electric is doing to people. It was bad enough that we all got charged big time during the 97 blackout. This man shouldn’t have to pay for the damage that the truck driver did. The only responsibility that this man has is from the post to his house and not any further than that. The thing is those wires should never be that low and should always be kept up. Almost every day I see Ottawa Hydro doing repairs here in the vicinity and elsewhere. Cornwall Hydro is sure lagging behind. That are of town including many areas are in big need of updates. The truck driver should be responsible for racing on small streets. Here in Ottawa if the cops saw him he would be charged. I believe that with what happened this man should not be responsible for the damages but should bill Mirimax and the driver of the vehicle. This man is very fortunate that he wasn’t standing in his driveway and lucky to have good neighbors to come to his aid.
Ummm…wouldn’t it make sense to have the wires underground?
It would.
In Europe wires are underground and in North America they are above ground. Yes it sure would make sense to put them underground. To put all the wires underground would cost a fortune and should have been done from the beginning. It is like closing the barn door after the horse left. That is always the case is that they wait until something terrible happened until they do something about it.
If your hydro bill was to go unpaid or if a safety issue existed the utility company maintains the right to pull the meter. The argument therefore is a question of ownership. If the utility company owns the meter and hence the wires from that point to the grid then it would be arguable that the utility company would be solely responsible for the replacement of the wires from the meter to the grid. This would leave the homeowner responsible for the mast and any attachment hardware only.
I would want to have a few more questions concerning liability answered.
If the line is compromised by freezing rain ( hanging lower as a result of the extra weight ) is the homeowner responsible if it is struck by a passing vehicle ? As stated questions of liability need to be answered.
David it also should be noted that it’s alleged that the truck struck multiple wires. It was just Mr. Kyer’s whose wire though was ripped from his home.
Yes I will confirm that he definitely did strike other wires including he ones attached to our apartment which shook the top half of the apartment when they banged against the wall.
Many good questions have been asked on the coneys and I fully believe that Cornwall electric shouldn’t be Mr. Kyer at all but perhaps look to the city?!
The driver absolutely is at fault for speeding and fleeing though.
Thanks to comment regarding good neighbours -after a string of bad ones that we’ve had in past we know how to be decent to others and solely did for him what all
Neighbours should do….help one another 🙂
Jules lets be fair to the Cornwall police they just might very well give a speeding transport truck a ticket if witnessed my only question is why the police would not investigate this as a hit and run no matter who is at fault if a person leaves a accident site its against the law if a car was sticking out a bit into the road allowance and he slammed into it and he did only a couple hundred dollars damage would leaving the scene be acceptable lets wait to see if the police do a proper investigation before we blast them. if they don’t then the driver might know someone or be a relative like the city hall sign affair.
if I was the owner of the transport company i would not want this man working for me anymore he proved he runs from his responsibility next time he could cause a disaster in the right circumstance like in Lac Magantic. I would not want to take the chance and maybe see my companies reputation tarnished and my insurance rates maybe spiralling out of control or face bankruptcy ilike the train company all because of one irresponsible drive, especially since there are many responsible men outta of work . No one is not replaceable .
Minimax is paying the bill.
the owner of the house told me this.
Jules, first off, there was no blackout in 97, but the IceStorm of 98. I would appreciate you explaining how everyone was charged “big time” and why. The man is not responsible from the pole to his house, but only for the attachment point at the house. Please explain why you think the area needs updates. You are confusing me on that one. Oh and it’s MINIMAX, not the other company you stated.
Wires in Europe are no different from here. We all have what is known as backyard construction and yes it does appear to be underground. Walk in the backyard of any Ottawa business and you will see the mess of wires, hidden from views of the front of the stores. You do a lot of talking about Cornwall, but you live in Ottawa. What gives with that?
“Say what?” I have heard that many of the electric wires in Europe are underground and in a way they are secure but nothing is ever really secure. There are many areas in Cornwall and Ottawa, etc. where wires should be up high and in some areas are low. There are many changes that have to be done and nobody should be racing at all anywhere. People have to be able to come to a stop at all times and yes it is mighty hard to stop a big truck like that – next to impossible so people have to go at a speed that they can control. I see cars and trucks going through red lights here in Ottawa and the drivers are so mighty aggressive and hostile that it isn’t funny – like they are driving on the autoban in Germany.
I did not know Minimax from Mirimax so sorry about that mix up but you all knew what I meant. Yes I talk about Cornwall and live in Ottawa and I was born and raised in Cornwall moved back for a while and then moved back to Ottawa since ten years. I always keep in touch with what is going on. Some people think that when you are gone you are gone but that is not so. People always want to find out what is going on and communicate different ideas. People have to get over a strange and backward mentality of feeling different where once you are gone then leave us alone. Well that is not so at all and that is part of what is holding Cornwall behind is the mentality – I think a great part of it is the mentality and I have mentioned that so many times before including now.
Sxyskater that is good news.
When Cornwall Power affixed the power cables to the house and subsequently to the Electric company’s inspector doing his thing….why wasn’t the homeowner advised to raise the inlet to an acceptable height? This is Cornwall Powers baby and they are fully responsible for the rewiring! They should also discount the first couple of electric bills for the homeowners inconvenience in this matter.