A 58-year-old postal worker was hit by a car while crossing Victoria Street Monday morning.
The woman lay in the middle of the intersection while the driver of the pick-up truck that struck her stood on the sidelines.
He is now facing charges of failing to yield to a pedestrian and no insurance under the Motor Vehicle Act.
“There is no loss of consciousness,” registered nurse Kelly Simpson told the Trail Times. “I think she's got a laceration to the back of her head.”
Simpson was on her way to Maglio Building Centre and saw the aftermath of the commotion that occurred at approximately 9:20 a.m.
The postal worker was traveling southbound on foot toward Cedar Avenue when the 48-year-old male driver was turning left from Cedar.
The pedestrian's khaki hat caught Trail Times reporter Sheri Regnier's eye when she watched the familiar woman push the button and wait for the pedestrian signal.
“All of a sudden, I could hear the guy's tires, and it wasn't his tires skidding to break,” explained Regnier.
“I looked across just in time to hear that horrible noise – boom – she goes flying, her hat, her mail, everything.”
Regnier was in shock when she tossed her bags to the side of the road and arrived first on the scene. “I kept asking, 'Who called the ambulance?'”
Paramedics turned up and took the woman to Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital for further assessment.
“Things can deteriorate, especially with a head injury, so it's really good to establish a baseline so if there is any swelling or any neurological deficits going on then you know that something has changed,” Simpson added.
The head/neck injuries didn't appear to be life-threatening, according to Sgt. Darren Oelke of the Trail and Greater District Detachment.
“It appeared that the driver of the truck did not see the pedestrian in the crosswalk,” he noted in a news release.
Road safety is a common topic this time of year as the darker days and winter weather moves in. Both drivers and pedestrians should be extra cautious, according to regional fire chief Terry Martin.
“I think we just have to be that much more careful anytime of the year," he said. "But as the season changes, and as it gets darker, we have a responsibility as drivers to be careful and watch for people crossing the street because they do have the right of way."
The message hit close to home last December when two elderly women were hit by a car in East Trail. One woman was sent to Kelowna for a treatment of a head injury and later passed away.
B.C. has invested in $18 billion of road infrastructure improvements since 2001, including 33 new passing lanes on rural highways, 6,700 km of rumble strips, 18,500 km of repaving, and 14,000 km of median and roadside barrier installed.
Yet, the province reports that on average a person dies on B.C. roads nearly six out of every seven days of the week.