A wall of ice that flew off the roof of an SUV smashed into a Lower Sackville man's van last night, cutting him and nearly causing another accident.

Adam Conley was driving home on Highway 101 Tuesday evening, approaching the Beaver Bank exit at 5:30 p.m. A white Cherokee SUV was travelling the other way when a chunk of snowy ice came off the rooftop and into Conley's windshield.

"I was scared for sure. It was coming straight at the van and I didn't have anywhere to go," he said Wednesday.

The block measured about one metre by one metre, he said, and turned into a blur as it crashed into the driver's side of the van's front windshield. It dented the hood, too.

"It took me a couple of minutes to figure out what was bleeding and where it was coming from and make sure I was still alright," Conley said.

The Cherokee driver didn't stop — the driver might not even have realized what happened, said Conley.

Police told him he was lucky to escape with minor cuts.

His wife, Amanda Dean Conley, was equally shaken up when he came home with a face full of blood and shards of glass sprinkled on him.

"It could have been worse if he'd swerved and hit another car. Anything could have happened," she said.

Halifax Regional Police received two such complaints over the last 24 hours, as plenty of cars moved around the province Wednesday with dangerous piles of snow and ice on their roofs.

Repairs usually come from victim's insurance

Amanda Dean of the Insurance Bureau of Canada said it's often the driver of the damaged vehicle who ends up paying for the repairs. Even if you have the other car's details, you'd have to prove negligence.

"Even in not clearing off all of the debris or all of the ice from their vehicle, especially if it's a higher vehicle, you would have to prove negligence," she said.

Dean said the first step should be to note what happened, road conditions, weather and any other details and send that to your insurance agent.

If you have comprehensive or all-perils coverage, that should pay for the repairs.