On March 1, I watched with dread as your own Morning Star carrier was almost struck by a speeding SUV while in the crosswalk on Hospital Hill/Highway 97.
As I waited to turn left to the hospital, your newspaper carrier waited several minutes before a vehicle on the north-bound outside lane stopped for him.
The drivers on the inside lane, however, did not care to look why others were stopped. One taxi went speeding by and your carrier saw him and waited while in the crosswalk. It was the second vehicle, likely at a speed of 80 kilometres an hour in a 50 kph zone, that had to swerve to the right at the last minute while your carrier jumped on to the median. There was less than 16 inches from the bumper to the newspaper carrier.
The SUV didn’t slow down and didn’t brake. Your carrier was visibly shaken once on the sidewalk.
I called to him and he said he was OK, just a little shook up. Everyone who works at that hospital has witnessed or has heard about shocking close calls for pedestrians at that crosswalk. There is no crosswalk light or warning light.
Vehicles come rocketing down the hill. I’m told this issue comes up every few years and yet there has been no movement on improving the safety for pedestrians accessing the hospital.
The collateral damage to our community would have been: your carrier’s family, friends and colleagues; the driver who struck him and the medical and legal impact that would have on her life; the drivers of five or six cars who would have witnessed a gruesome traumatic incident; the impact on the medical staff and all personnel in the hospital who know how dangerous the crosswalk is.
If your carrier had been even a second slower in his reaction time, his death may have been enough to bring attention to this dangerous crosswalk — maybe.
We must make this crosswalk safer before someone dies.
Carmen Larsen
Vernon
