'So scary': Flying shovel misses Mississauga driver by just centimetres
It started as a routine drive for Komal Syed.
“I went on the 403 from Winston Churchill”, the Mississauga resident told CTV News Toronto. “I just had two...exits to take.”
It was just before 11 a.m. on Monday and Syed was headed to an appointment. She says she noticed a white sedan pull into the lane in front of her, causing her to reduce her speed. It was then she noticed something was odd about the car.
“It’s bumper started moving. And I was like, okay it seems like it’s bumper is coming off. And next thing I hear - a crash.”
Police are warning people to properly secure their cargo after a metal shovel flew into the windshield of an Ontario driver's car.
That crash was caused not by a bumper, but by a shovel flying through her windshield just centimetres from her face.
“I honestly don’t know where the shovel came from,” Syed said. “From what I recall, the bumper was moving. The bumper seemed to be coming off, but it wasn’t. Eventually what was in my car was a shovel.”
Syed says in the moment she managed to remain relatively calm.
“I turned and saw this shovel in my windscreen and I realized that, OK this is pretty big,” she said with a slight chuckle. “I mean I obviously screamed and I must have panicked, but I didn’t swerve luckily.”
Syed pulled to the side of the road and surveyed the damage. A cell phone video she took at the time shows the extent of the damage. She said she didn’t even realize that she was covered in broken glass until a tow truck driver who had stopped to help pointed it out.
While she recounts the story with a nervous laugh now, she says she didn’t realize until much later just how different the incident could have been if they shovel had hit the windshield in a different place.
Komal Syed's car is photographed after a metal shovel flew into her windshield.“The next day when I shared it, and I was repeating what happened, that’s when it hit me that it could have been anywhere.”
Syed says she drove the same route the next morning in order to dissuade any fears she might have about safety. And says she has a message for other highway drivers in the hopes that others won’t have to go through what she has.
“If someone is going to go on the highway with tools or equipment, please make sure it’s secured properly. Because this is just like ... so scary.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.