Some rural P.E.I. residents are concerned about their safety after a recent winter storm created difficulties in reaching new rural community mailboxes.

'We're supposed to be out of the Trans-Canada Highway, so it really doesn't make any sense to me.'— Mail carrier Sue Gauthier 

Canada Post recently installed new community mailboxes after stopping delivery of mail to hundreds of rural individual homes because it was unsafe for postal workers. However, Sue Gauthier, the mail carrier for Hazel Grove, said recent winter conditions have made her job just as dangerous.

The community mailbox at Mount Albion is snowed in.
(CBC)

"We're parked on the shoulder of the Trans-Canada Highway, trying to get the mail in there, and the customers are trying to get the mail out of there," she said.

"We're supposed to be out of the Trans-Canada Highway, so it really doesn't make any sense to me."

Last week, a senior citizen was in a minor car accident while picking up his mail at the new Hazelbrook mailbox site.

Canada Post began a national review of mailboxes along rural roads last summer, beginning in Stratford, P.E.I. The review looked at the amount of traffic along the roads and the ability of workers to pull off the highway at residences.

Nearly 40 accidents and three deaths have occurred involving Canada Post drivers in Canada since 2004.

In Stratford the Crown corporation determined that 500 of the 1,300 mailboxes were considered unsafe for postal workers. It has since reviewed mailboxes in other parts of the Island, and hundreds more are due to be decommissioned.

Snow making community boxes unsafe

Canada Post is responsible for clearing the snowy sites, but it said some sites may have been overlooked because the system is new, and it is trying to solve the problem.

Wendy Himelman has been having problems getting her mail.
(CBC)

Wendy Himelman, who uses the Mount Albion site, said Canada Post is not trying hard enough. A large mound of snow in front of the box has made it difficult to get her mail since Tuesday's storm.

"I'm not impressed, because it's a big block of ice and snow, and we were told it would be cleared away," said Himelman.

"When you get out on the driver's side, you're going to be onto the road. This is a busy highway, and you really take your life in your hands."

Peggy Wood agrees. She dreads parking on a busy highway.

"You have to worry about traffic," said Wood. "It is quite heavy here."

Himelman said she is concerned more accidents could happen if the snow is not cleared away immediately by Canada Post.