City of Saskatoon exploring safest ways to plug extension cords into vehicles

If you park your vehicle outside during a Saskatoon winter, you might not think too much about plugging it in on cold days.

Saskatoon city council is now looking into updating a bylaw after a local senior was injured, tripping over an extension cord plugged into a vehicle.

Marcia Provenzano wrote a letter to council, detailing her injuries from tripping on an extension cord while going for a walk in January.

“I landed hard on my arm and face on an open portion of the walk and suffered bruising and a deep abrasion above my left eye,” Provenzano said in her letter to the city.

She asked council to consider updating Bylaw 3665 — an electrical equipment bylaw which hasn’t been reviewed since it was first created in 1958.

1:36 No easy solution to safety, crime around pedestrian underpasses: Saskatoon police

The bylaw currently states it’s legal to use an extension cord over a city sidewalk if plugged in and not left in a “haphazard” manner. Administration will review this to clarify what’s considered a hazard.

Mayor Charlie Clark emphasized extension cords can’t be banned entirely, given many vehicles in Saskatoon need to be plugged in to start on cold days. He said the main goal is to establish the safest ways to plug cords into vehicles to prevent others from being injured.

“It’s a responsibility of the person putting the cord across the sidewalk that they need to do it in a safe way so that if somebody’s walking… somebody who has a wheelchair or walker, or mobility issues or can’t see the cord, that it doesn’t become a tripping hazard,” Clark explained.