A man from Montreal says he waited for the traffic adapted for three hours to the side of an Ontario road after an accident, and wants the Canadian car association (CAA) to improve its trailer policy for people with disabilities.
Frédéric McNamara said the experience made him feel like a third -class citizen.
“I was angry,” he said. “I felt that we were not important to them.”
McNamara, who has muscle dystrophy and uses a wheelchair, said he was driving his vehicle adapted on Highway 401, near Cobourg, Ontario, when he hit an object on the road, blowing a tire.
As a member of the CAA, McNamara pays rates that include a trailer in case of an accident.
He said he called the Federation and a crane arrived, but the driver did not know what to do.
Normally, customers travel in the crane while their vehicle stops, but McNamara could not enter.
McNamara said in the past that a Caa Quebec crane could tow his vehicle with him. A Caa Quebec spokesman told CBC under any circumstances that the company towing vehicles with their drivers inside.
In this case, the Ontario crane driver supervisor said that towing the vehicle with McNamara inside was impossible, because it would be insecure.
Then, Mcnamara waited in his vehicle at the side of the road while Caa was looking for a taxi with adapted traffic capacity.
The whole test took about three hours, during which he said he felt insecure waiting in his car while other vehicles passed to his side on the road.
“Caa is not a free service,” he said. “We pay and hope to get the service and the only time we need them cannot help us as they should.”
Caa said in a statement that he has a procedure to tow a CAA member with reduced mobility and followed in this case.
A company spokesman said that, according to Ontario’s law, vehicles cannot be towed with passengers inside, including those with accessibility requirements. In this case, the spokesman said that the dispatcher immediately called local taxi companies and the provincial police to find a safe solution.
The crane driver also stayed with McNamara until the taxi adapted came.
But McNamara still expects the company to work better next time.
“I would like them to have clear policies when they deal with adapted vehicles and disabled vehicles,” he said.
Steven Laperrière, the general director of RAPLIQ, a group that represents people with disabilities, said there must be better coordination between towing companies, police and adapted transit services.
“More important than a plan, it must be associated with all those involved as cranes companies such as CAA and OPP and taxis companies throughout the place to make sure that if this happens we can react faster than that,” he said.
