Jason Orr was driving to work on Oct. 22 when a city light pole fell on the windshield of his Jeep.

Blinded by the explosion of glass all over the front seat, Orr drove through the green light at the intersection of 109th Street and 100th Avenue before pulling over.

He stumbled out of the car to speak to a witness — a woman who was driving the other way and had captured the whole thing on dashcam video.

"I couldn't believe what had happened," he told CBC News. "I was pretty shaken up."

Three months after the accident, Orr said the city will not take the blame for the accident or help him with the more than $12,000 it will cost to repair his vehicle.

Witness relieved more people not hurt

Shawna Sazwan and her husband Adam were driving south on 109th Street and were waiting to turn left at 100th Avenue when they saw the pole fall, landing on a moving vehicle.

She spoke to a dazed Orr, who emerged from his vehicle with blood dripping down his arm.

"He got out and [said], 'what the heck happened, what just hit me,' " Sazwan said Thursday.

She recorded the entire event on her dashcam in her vehicle.

Sazwan said more people could have been injured. Two vehicles parked right beside the light post on the east side of 109th Street were also hit, she said.

A light pole with a rusted base fell onto Jason Orr's vehicle in October 2017. (Jason Orr)

A pedestrian had also been standing at the corner, waiting to cross the street.

Sazwan and her husband spoke with the woman walking, who told them she thought she heard an explosion.

"It happened so close to her," Sazwan said. "[She] had said to us, 'that was insane, I saw sparks come out of the base of the pole when it fell.'

"The fact that a light post could get that rusted in the first place is absolutely insane."

Witnesses on scene and even police were asking what caused the light post to fall, Sazwan said. "Nothing. There wasn't even any wind that day."

Sazwan and she's glad to have the video of the event, which she has shared with all of the people affected.

"We had no idea [the dashcam] would help other people as much as it has," she said.

Over 5,000 light standards to be replaced

The city became aware of the fallen pole on Oct. 23, 2017, according to parks and roads spokesperson Catherine Kuehne.

Kuehne did not comment on Orr's case specifically, citing privacy issues.

"The city has a process in place to provide all citizens with a way to report incidents and put forth claims," she wrote in an email Wednesday.

The rusted light pole fell near 100th Avenue and 109th Street in Edmonton. (Jason Orr) "In all claims the city takes into consideration the Municipal Government Act and any other investigation information provided by the appropriate department to determine liability."

There are 81,000 city light standards in Edmonton, Kuehne said. The city replaces up to 1,500 a year, using a dedicated annual fund of $6 million.

The city also has access to an additional $10 million for replacements through sources such as neighborhood renewal programs, she said.

Approximately 5,400 light standards and 3,000 concrete bases are currently scheduled for replacement. Each repair costs between $5,000 and $18,000, depending on how much of the standard needs to be replaced.

Past investigation into streetlight poles

Coun. Bryan Anderson asked the city's transportation committee to review light pole maintenance in 2014 after a pole fell on a woman's car.

EPCOR installed the city's streetlight system without galvanizing the poles with a protective layer of zinc, the review states.

When city administration took over the streetlighting system from EPCOR in 1997, the city said it inherited light poles that had already deteriorated.

The city decided in 2004 that it would discontinue galvanizing the street poles in favour of a more cost-effective pole-replacement program.

One-tenth of the city's 75,000 streetlight poles were recommended for replacement at the time the report was written.