B.C. man sounds the alarm about flying debris after incident on Ironworkers Memorial Bridge

A B.C. man is sounding the alarm about debris flying from trucks while travelling on the province’s highways.

Kenny Leong, travels back and forth over the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge at times for work. On Aug. 3, he said he was approaching the bridge span, heading west, when his sunroof exploded.

“I didn’t know what was going on. You can’t stop on the bridge as that’s unsafe as well,” he told Global News.

It was only when he got back to the office and watched his dashcam that he saw a rock flying through the air before striking his sunroof.

“Right before it happened I could see a little bit of debris skipping along the highway, and then it wasn’t until I reviewed the video there was a big dump truck coming the other way, in the opposite direction and you can see in the video, about a fist-sized rock coming the other way.”

“It was scary,” Leong added.

2:54 Mother and son miraculously survive bizarre Ironworkers bridge accident

He said he wanted to share his experience after seeing the story of Susan Milne and her four-year-old son, whose car was hit by a steel beam from a truck also that was also travelling across the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge.

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“It’s a miracle that I’m alive and it’s a miracle that no one else was hurt,” Milne told Global News in an interview Sunday.

Around 2 p.m. on Oct. 7, Milne was driving to New Westminster for an appointment with her four-year-old son when she heard a loud noise and saw something in her peripheral vision.

“I saw something coming, a flying object, this steel beam which I later discovered, coming in my general direction,” Milne said.

Sgt. Steve Addison with the Vancouver Police Department said a northbound truck lost part of its load, dropping a massive metal beam onto the bridge deck.

The steel bar bounced into oncoming traffic and impaled the windshield of Milne’s Mercedes.

Detectives from the VPD’s Collision Investigation Unit are still trying to identify the truck driver, who continued on to the North Shore after the crash.

0:51 Close call on Ironworkers Memorial Bridge after metal beam flies off truck

In Leong’s case, he said the glass chipped some of the paint on his car and the pick-up truck behind him was swerving to try and avoid the flying glass.

“The rock missed my head by about four or five inches.”

He would like to see more oversight when it comes to the condition of the highways and debris being left behind.

In an emailed statement, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said it is awaiting the results of the police investigation into the Oct. 7 incident.
“The Province’s road and bridge maintenance contractor drives the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge daily. When they observe defects in the surface, like potholes, they’re addressed as quickly as possible,” it wrote.

“There are currently no issues with the bridge surface.”

The ministry reminded drivers to cover, secure and contain any cargo being carried as outlined in the Motor Vehicle Act Regulations.

— with files from Kristen Robinson