Regina, Saskatchewan — A simple denibbing is nothing compared to what one Saskatchewan woman is going through after her vehicle was covered in tar from unmarked highway construction.
The driver, Melinda Lee was driving west of Biggar when she approached a construction vehicle with no signs indicating that road work was being done further ahead.
“I couldn’t see over [the] top of the hill because there was a construction vehicle parked there and I kind of stopped behind it and the person in the vehicle stuck his hand out and waved me to go past,” Lee originally told CTV News.
Lee told CTV News that both sides of the single-lane road were being repaved, but that the construction worker in the vehicle she had first seen had waved her through, and so she ended up driving on the fresh blacktop.
“It’s not my fault that they put tar on both sides of the road, and I had nowhere to drive,” Lee said.
According to Lee, there was no signage indicating work was being done.
In an email to CTV News on November 10, the Ministry of Highways placed blame on a private contractor it claimed was doing work without signs or a flag person in the area of the incident. However, on the following Tuesday, the ministry sent a follow-up message where it retracted its initial claim, saying the contractor it named, Venture Construction, had nothing to do with the incident.
Lee was given a damage estimate for her vehicle of $12,000 to replace the rear window, covered in tar and she feels that she shouldn’t have to use her insurance to pay for the damages because the incident was out of her control.
An SGI spokesperson who was contacted for a comment on the event said that “a customer could either pay out of pocket and have damages covered by a third party responsible going through the small claims court process.”
