EDMONTON — A boy and his mother narrowly escaped serious injury Friday when a car slammed into the pole next to them on a west Edmonton street corner.
Police said the driver failed to clear the frost from her windshield and may have been drunk when she veered off the road and struck the pole. Flying debris hit the seven-year-old boy, breaking his arm.
The pair was waiting to cross the street in the area of 156 Street and 95 Avenue at around 8:20 a.m. when the crash happened.
“One of the factors of the collisions seems to be a completely obstructed windshield by way of frost,” Sgt. Anna Sinclair with the Edmonton Police Service’s Major Collision Investigation Unit said.
“I would suggest to the public that they clear their windshield before they drive on days like today where there’s frost on windshields.”
Sinclair said if the boy and his mother had not been standing behind the pole, “they most definitely would have been pinned between the vehicle and the pole.”
“And considering the impact the vehicle took into that pole, it would have been a significant injury if not fatal collision.”
The driver of the car, a woman in her 20s, was not injured. She now faces charges of impaired driving causing bodily harm.
In 2015, Edmonton police laid charges in 10 impaired driving causing bodily harm investigations, and one impaired driving causing death investigation.
Sinclair also voiced concern over the high number of pedestrian collisions she’s seen on Edmonton roads so far this year.
“This year in January, February and March so far we’ve had inordinate amount of pedestrian collisions. I attribute a lot of them, unfortunately, to distracted driving.”
READ MORE: Pedestrian struck and killed by concrete truck in downtown Edmonton
On Jan. 1, 2016 tougher penalties for distracted driving went into place in Alberta. Now, anyone caught driving while distracted will face a $287 fine and three demerit points.
Distracted driving includes using a hand-held cellphone or GPS, as well as reading, writing, eating or personal grooming behind the wheel.
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