Hamilton Police say a 14-year-old girl suffered life-threatening injuries after she was struck by a vehicle while she was walking with her friends Saturday night.
Emergency crews were called to the area of Parkdale Avenue North and Roxborough Avenue around 5:15 p.m., according to Dave Thompson, superintendent of the Hamilton Paramedic Service.
The teen was taken to hospital in “critical, life-threatening condition suffering from multi-system trauma,” it said.
Hamilton police say the teen was walking with a group of friends through Parkdale when she was struck by a driver who then fled the area.
Investigators said they have since tracked down the 2005 Nissan Quest involved in the crash with the help of the public.
The driver, a 30-year-old Hamilton woman, is charged with failure to remain at the scene of a collision that caused bodily harm, police said.
The collision is the latest in a recent series of crashes that have killed pedestrians or left them seriously injured.
Hamilton’s police chief has spoken out about the series of collisions, saying the service focuses on speeding drivers, aggressive drivers, distracted drivers and drivers who drink or use drugs behind the wheel.
“We are also targeting Hamilton’s top 10 collision intersections in an effort to reduce collisions and are working closely with the City of Hamilton to implement highway safety reform,” he said in a video posted online.
Sandy Shaw, NDP MPP for Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas, also wrote a letter to Provincial Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, calling for action to be taken at the provincial level to prevent accidents.
“Municipalities like Hamilton need provincial support and funding to develop active transportation plans that incorporate the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, and vulnerable road users,” he wrote in part.
The city has been working toward a goal of zero traffic fatalities or serious injuries since 2019, Ward 8 (West Central Mountain) Councilman John-Paul Danko posted on Twitter. But “the recent tragic pedestrian deaths show that more needs to be done,” he added.
Danko shared screenshots of a motion he plans to bring to the Hamilton Public Works Committee on Monday.
2022-04-30 17:47:22 COLLISION: #Hamilton CLOSED Parkdale Av N from Dunsmure Rd to Roxborough Av #HamOnt
He notes that despite that goal, the number of fatal collisions on city streets hasn’t trended downward, pointing to eight pedestrian fatalities through April.
The motion calls for the city’s strategic highway safety committee to review annual crash statistics, “isolate specific hazards” for vulnerable road users, and for the transportation division to report to the committee on traffic enforcement improvements. and improvements in road safety for pedestrians and cyclists.
It comes as another weekend collision left three people seriously injured.
Police say a 21-year-old Hamilton man was driving a Volkswagen west on Hunter Street toward the intersection of Queen Street South around 11 p.m. Friday when he failed to navigate the intersection and crashed into a fence and blocks of concrete.
“This caused extensive damage to the vehicle and caused parts of the concrete blocks to fall onto the train tracks,” police said in a news release.
The driver and two other 19-year-old men suffered serious injuries, including “torso trauma and spinal fractures,” according to investigators.
Police said they have not been able to rule out any contributing factors. The collision reconstruction unit is continuing to investigate.
Reference-www.cbc.ca