Unfortunately Alicia Stadnyk is vehicle shopping, again, after a huge boulder fell down and hit the front end of her SUV last week.
Stadnyk, who lives in Keremeos, and attends school in Penticton, thought for a brief moment last Thursday afternoon she avoided any damage by missing the first large rock to fall but the second smashed her front passenger side destroying the under carriage and breaking a tie-rod.
“From the corner of my eye I saw the rocks coming. It’s the first accident I’ve ever been in. I saw it kind of and then it came over the barrier. I swerved, ended up missing the biggest one, but a smaller one came out of nowhere,” she said.
The incident happened on Highway 3A last Thursday around 4:30 p.m. just before Zachs collectibles near Olalla.
She ended up in the ditch as the damage to tie-rod meant she had no control of the vehicle.
“It was pouring. It was so foggy that day. It was hard to see. A couple vehicles were behind me. I’m so thankful they were a safe enough distance behind me. A stranger said, ‘it’s still coming down and you need to get out of here now,’” she said.
Stadnyk said she’s lived here for about six years and although she noticed there was a lot of shale in that area she thought the barrier would hold any rock that came down.
“With those barriers being there my first thought was ‘I’m going to be fine’ but then I saw it leap over. It was quite a sight to see.”
Thankfully Stadnyk is near finals for the semester so she has a bit of time to go vehicle shopping. The kicker was she’d just bought the 2009 Dodge Journey a few months ago.
“The kids really liked it so that’s too bad.”