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Pedestrians around Newton’s Hall Road in the crosshairs

How can it be jay-walking if there is no marked crosswalk?

Police say always cross at designated crosswalks, never mid-block.

What if there isn’t one?

My name is Jessica McNabb. My daughter and I are pedestrians that were hit around 4:45 p.m. on Nov. 15 by a careless driver. Witnesses saw him driving recklessly as he was leaving a shop close by before hitting my daughter and I.

The impact sent me up on the vehicle’s hood and flying through the air.  It also sent my two-year-old daughter’s stroller flying in another direction onto its side.

I was crossing Hall Road by 72 Avenue in Newton when this happened.

We spent five hours in emergency. We are the lucky ones. Nothing broken. Scrapes and bruises. My daughter’s stroller broke her fall.

I’m pretty banged up and extremely sore.

I called the police officer who was at the scene and was told the driver received a ticket. That’s it, a mere ticket, and I will suffer a long time because of this and I pray not my daughter.

I was then told I was jay-walking.

Last time I checked there was no designated crosswalk on Hall Road anywhere.

So does this mean we all are jay-waking on Hall Road and if so, are we all subjecting ourselves, our children, our friends and our loved ones to danger each time we cross Hall Road?

I fear for the safety of my family and friends and anyone who crosses Hall Road.

If a car hits you, there’s nothing you can do. How many more accidents or deaths will we see until something is done?

I didn’t die nor did my daughter. Had we died would people do something then?

I’m going to fight this. For my daughter and for our future I wont stop till they put a crosswalk in.

I didn’t jay- walk. Put a freaking crosswalk in.

 

Jessica NcNabb

 

Occupied crosswalks: Make the right choice

To the driver of the white Land/Range Rover:

You had two choices when you saw the yellow lights flashing at the pedestrian-controlled crossing: 1. Stop and allow me and my dog to cross; or, 2. Proceed through the crosswalk as though there weren’t six flashing yellow lights, visible from at least 200 metres.

You chose a third option that I hadn’t even considered: You chose to drive through the crosswalk and swerve into the oncoming lane to avoid hitting us as we crossed.

I ask you, which option would have been the least inconvenient for you? I’d suggest option number one – stopping for about 10 seconds while we crossed the road.

Number two could have resulted in you slamming into us, stopping somewhere down the road, waiting for emergency vehicles to arrive, giving a full report to the attending police officers, paying a major increase in your insurance premiums, paying a hefty fine for not yielding to a pedestrian, for not obeying a traffic signal, for careless driving, etc., losing points on your licence, and living the rest of your life knowing that you had destroyed several lives (or even driving off and spending the rest of your life hiding from the police).

The third option that you chose could have resulted in a major accident and, depending on the size of the oncoming vehicle(s), spending months in the hospital, and possibly years in rehabilitation learning how to speak, walk, feed yourself, etc., plus all of the aforementioned penalties. Or dead.

Fortunately for us, you didn’t hit us and, fortunately for you, the oncoming lane was empty at the moment you swerved into it.

We were all very lucky this time, but will we be so lucky the next time you choose to drive through an occupied crosswalk?

 

Jerry Seinberg

Surrey