Waterton Winter Waterfall — Laurie Thomson Photography

Abstracts? Yes!

Winter Waterfall

Does a Rental SUV Include Brakes?

“Ontario Tourist Kills Sheep”???

I headed off to Calgary, Alberta to my favourite national park, Waterton Lakes. As it was late February, I knew most of the roads into the park were closed due to snow however, a few were still open.

I rented an SUV with all-wheel-drive as I knew it would be safer and fun to drive around especially without the crowds of summer. The first road I went up was snow covered with icy patches. As it was freshly sanded, it was great to drive on. I went a few kilometres and then decided I better check in at my hotel. It was getting dark.

The next day, I went exploring.

When I came around a bend in the road, I noticed a herd of sheep. I wasn't going that fast however I wanted to stop and get photos. When I stepped on the brake, the SUV accelerated. It eventually stopped, however I was surprised to see how close I got to the sheep. I could see the headline now, “Ontario Tourist Kills Sheep”.

I started to second-guess myself and wondered if maybe I had knocked the gearshift into neutral when I reached for my camera, but it was still in drive. Weird for sure.

I didn't think too much more about it and continued on taking my photos. I was able to stop successfully along the road and I thought maybe it's just a glitch. The rest of the morning was as wonderful as I thought it would be - no crowds, lots of time to myself and beautiful bright sunshine.

The next night…it happened again. I was driving in the village of Waterton and drove into a parking lot to check out the view of Lake. I decided to get out to photograph the lake and once again, the SUV accelerated. I thought I might have to turn it off to get it to stop, but it finally did. This time, I realized I had a definite problem.

After contacting the rental company, I was told that since I had not paid for roadside assistance, I would be responsible for towing the SUV for 300 km back to Calgary if their mechanics found nothing wrong. I wasn't too concerned because I thought there was something wrong with the vehicle so how could they ask me to pay?

It is almost 3 months since this incident and the claims department hasn’t gotten back to me one way or the other to let me know if I am supposed to pay. I'm also wondering why would they expect me to drive an unsafe vehicle back to Calgary and maybe damage their property and maybe even myself? I am sure that the tow charge will be waived.

The tow was arranged for the next day and I was fortunate the tow truck driver was able to take me back to my airport hotel. Not so great to be a solo traveller in the middle of winter in an isolated destination, no public transportation available and getting minimal support from the rental company. Stay tuned…