WINNIPEG -- A woman hit by a vehicle at a crosswalk is urging all users of the road to pay more attention after a string of pedestrian-vehicle collisions in Winnipeg.
Shannon Furness was out for a run around 8 a.m. Friday when she said she was a hit by a vehicle at Corydon Avenue and Cockburn Street North.
Furness said she hit the crosswalk button, looked both ways, and one vehicle stopped, its driver waving her through. She began to cross, and said that’s when a vehicle in the middle lane hit her, propelling her more than a metre and a half in the air.
"I was in the middle of Corydon Avenue with a bleeding head, and even though I got hit on my left side, I believe I landed on my head and the back of my right hip, and that's where I’m getting quite a bit of pain,” said Furness.
She went to hospital via ambulance, needed staples on her head to stop the bleeding and is thankful she wasn't seriously injured.
Furness is one of four people to be hit by a vehicle in three days in Winnipeg.
On Friday afternoon, paramedics rushed a construction worker to hospital in critical condition after a collision near Sturgeon Road and Murray Park Road.
On Sunday morning two youths were hit on Portage Avenue near School Road. They were also taken to hospital.
The string of collisions comes just days after Manitoba Public Insurance warned of a higher-than-average number of pedestrian fatalities.
“I find it requires drivers in themselves to slow down and be a lot more conscious about pedestrians. At the same time, I acknowledge that pedestrians cannot just assume that drivers are going to stop for them, so they have to be defensive and assertive too,” said Furness.
Furness believes many collisions are the result of people rushing to their destinations and being distracted, and to keep pedestrians safe the relationship between users of the roads shouldn’t be adversarial.
“Increasing the safety of pedestrians comes at the expense of drivers’ convenience. We have to accept that for the safety of all of us, we all have to share the road,” said Furness.
