A 26-year-old woman hit while crossing Windsor and Montgomery Streets Sunday evening escaped the collision with minor injuries, Cst. Rick Mooney of the Fredericton Police Force said.
The woman, who was wearing dark clothing at the time, was hit by a blue or black Ford Focus just after 6 p.m. Sunday.
The investigation is in its preliminary stages as police try to determine if the car failed to yield to the pedestrian or vice versa. Police haven’t decided whether charges will be laid against the driver yet.
“There’s two options,” Sgt. Matt Myers said Sunday.
“As soon as we’re able to put all the facts together, a determination will be made if there’s any charges, any violations under the Motor Vehicle Act.”
Myers said they have called in other teams to photograph and reconstruct the scene.
At the time of the collision, it was dark and lighting was reduced, but “not to a point where you can’t see,” Myers said.
He urges pedestrians and drivers to use as much caution as they can – especially at night during the winter and the onus is often on the pedestrian.
“By law, people have to yield to them, but they still need to be extremely conscious of their surroundings and watch where they’re going, even if they have the right of way. Make sure you’re aware of your surroundings and you’re exercising caution at all times,” Myers said.
“The same thing with the drivers. Drivers need to make sure that they’re extremely diligent as well. Sometimes you’ll see a pedestrian and you take some proactive or some defensive driving and then you can prevent [a collision] in case somebody does step off and they don’t watch you.”
Over the past year, there have been a number of incidents involving a pedestrian hit by a vehicle in the Fredericton area.
“Whenever you’re dealing with a pedestrian-struck accident, there’s usually some degree of injuries. If you step out in front of vehicle or a vehicle strikes you, you’re not going to win,” Myers said.
