A 93-year-old man is in hospital with serious injuries after being hit by a car late Wednesday night in Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal borough.
Police spokesperson Manuel Couture says a 43-year-old driver was travelling northbound on Park Avenue near Prince Arthur Street around 10:30 p.m., when his vehicle hit an elderly man crossing the street a few metres south of the intersection.
The pedestrian suffered multiple injuries, including a serious head injury, Couture says.
Doctors say they fear for his life.
Montreal police collision investigators are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the collision.
Couture says speed and alcohol are not currently considered factors in the crash.
The number of pedestrians killed in car accidents this year has already surpassed that of 2019, and the majority of deaths are senior citizens.
Montreal’s largest borough, Côte-Des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-De-Grâce, held an awareness campaign on Thursday aimed at educating senior citizens about safe road crossing.
“A lot of accidents happen in the front of the nose of the truck,” said SAAQ Highway Patrol Spokesperson Marie-Josée Michaud.
“With those mirrors, the driver can see if there is something happening in front of his nose.”
According to the SAAQ, truck drivers have a hard time seeing pedestrians when they walk directly in front of their vehicles.
“The first thing to do is to make eye contact with the driver,” said Michaud.
“If both people — the driver and the pedestrian — take a look at each other, there won’t be any problems.”
“I’m really making an appeal to our residents to slow down,” said Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-De-Grâce Borough Mayor Sue Montgomery.
“Take it easy.”
— With files from Global’s Tim Sargeant