Drivers urged to be cautious as large snowbanks reduce visibility throughout Waterloo region

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The snow may have stopped falling, but a pair of significant snowstorms has left another potential hazard behind.

Sizable snowbanks have cropped up throughout Waterloo region as people continue trying to clear driveways, sidewalks and roadways on Monday.

“Digging out for the third time in one and two days. Yeah, it gets a little much. There is no where to put it,” said resident Keith Relf.

Maneuvering around snowbanks

Reduced sightlines due to large piles of snow heaped on corners is common after back-to-back snowstorms.

Drivers are urged to be extremely cautious when pulling out of driveways or moving around snowbanks because they may not be able to see pedestrians on sidewalks or other vehicles travelling on the road.

According to Waterloo Regional Police, use extra caution around snowbanks.

“So we see incidences where when you’re reversing or turning or making any sort of maneuver in and out of a driveway, you have to take extra care in order to ensure that you’re not backing into something or striking something as you turn,” said Staff Sgt. Scott Griffiths with the Waterloo Regional Police Service.

He said there’s been a steady parade of drivers coming through the incident reporting centre over the last few days.

“It’s an inability to stop and striking the other vehicle or leaving the roadway as a single motor vehicle or because of the weather and being unable to turn or make other maneuvers that they can then causing a collision,” said Sgt. Griffiths.

He said to go as slow as possible in these conditions.

“If you’re looking at a snowbank, you’re not seeing a vehicle approaching. So what we want you to do is take extra time, extra care, slow down, because there could be something behind that snow bank,” he said.

When will snowbanks be removed?

In an emailed statement to CTV News, officials with the City of Kitchener said, “Once snow removal activities are complete, we will do the best we can to clear snowbanks. This many take several weeks.”

The email also said dedicated crews have been working around the clock to try to make travel throughout the city as safe as possible.

“They are doing their best to manage the challenge of clearing so much snow with limited snow storage,” the email said.

Meanwhile, crews in the City of Waterloo are dealing with similar problems.

“The transportation team continues to get through the road network, and hope to begin today to shift gears to address narrow streets and intersections with potential sightline concerns as a result of the snow volume and space limitations,” an email from the city reads.

It goes on to say it could take several days to manage ‘additional snow loading operations.’

“Our parks crews are also doing what they can for city-maintained sidewalks and to address intersections, but again, it will be a long, slow process. We’ve received a record amount of snow in a short period of time, and while the weather is improving, our operations will continue for some time, and we ask for everyone’s patience. Exhausted crews are all doing incredible work, even if it seems to be moving slowly, due to the sheer volume of snow we’re dealing with,” the email said.