STRATFORD, P.E.I. — Ajay Punnapadam does not want motorists feeling deflated – or being injured.
The 44-year-old Stratford resident does a lot of bending over during his daily 10-kilometre walks, picking up nails, screws and other sharp objects that could puncture tires.
He hopes his action has prevented – and will continue to prevent – accidents, not to the mention helping motorists to avoid the cost of having a tire repaired.
Punnapadam says the number of nails he removes from the road is “pretty scary’’.
He has picked up as many as 50 to 60 nails during his regular stroll along Keppoch Road, Stratford Road and the highway.
He estimates he has plucked more than 1,000 nails off the road in less than six months.
Punnapadam has turned a few heads as he walks along the shoulder of the road towards oncoming traffic, scooping up nails and other threats to well-inflated tires, tossing the items into a Ziploc bag.
“People must be wondering what is wrong with this guy,’’ he says with a chuckle.
Punnapadam started providing the free road sweep service a couple weeks after arriving with his family from India on June.
His children, Aashish, 8, Mariya, 11, and Ashwin, 13, at times joins him on the goodwill outings, but his wife Supriya chooses not to take part.
Punnapadam has yet to have a tire punctured while driving on Prince Edward Island, offering sharp contrast to his experiences as a motorist in India.
He says a common practice where he lived in India was for boards with nails poking through to be placed on the road with the intent of puncturing tires, providing business for pop up repair shops.
Punnapadam’s tires were regularly punctured by inadvertently driving over strategically-placed nails.
“It was a monthly ritual,’’ he recalls.
“It’s pretty annoying for the person who has a punctured tire.’’
Punnapadam stopped doing his pick-up rounds recently but plans to resume the task next year.
