On 4 January 03, a 33 year old father of three was struck while walking home from work. He lay injured in a ditch in the 22800-block Fraser Highway in Langley for more than three hours before being discovered by a highways maintenance worker. He suffered two broken legs, one of which had to be amputated. The driver pleaded guilty to hit-and-run. The Crown determined that convictions could not be obtained on the original additional charges: impaired driving, dangerous driving and hit-and-run causing bodily harm.

   

On 6 January 03, a 13 year old girl, while inline skating with her younger sister and a friend on 36^th Avenue in Langley, was hit from behind and killed by a hit-and-run driver. The girls were on their way home for dinner. The driver turned himself in the next day. He was convicted on three counts of hit-and-run. On 18 August 03, the newspapers reported that his parole hearing was scheduled for the 4 month point of his 14 month jail sentence. The driver has a criminal record including convictions for dangerous driving and impaired driving.         

 

On 6 July 03, at 6: 20 pm, a 5-year-old boy and his 6-year-old sister were hit by a Honda Civic driven by a 34-year-old woman. The Honda jumped the south side curb of 41^st Avenue and drove over several wooden parking lot barriers before hitting the two children, who were walking behind their parents when they were struck either on the sidewalk or in the parking lot. At last reporting, the boy was in critical condition and the girl was in serious condition. The cause was unclear. No charges were laid at the time of first reporting. The driver remained at the scene and alcohol did not appear to be a factor.

 

On 16 July 03, an 86-year-old driver drove his car into a crowded outdoor market in Santa Monica, killing 10 people and injuring at least 40. Investigators learned that he hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. Tests showed that drugs or alcohol were not factors. His actions appear to have been unintentional, his claim being that he tried to stop the car, not floor it.

 

Walking on a bridge sidewalk On 6 August 03, at 8 am, a pedestrian on the Queensborough Bridge sidewalk was hit by an SUV driven by a Coquitlam man. The SUV skidded after rounding the bend on the wet road, jumped the short curb on to the sidewalk and knocked the pedestrian over the bridge rail on to Marine Drive, 10 metres below. The pedestrian, a father of two young boys, died later in hospital. Speed may have been a factor.

 

On 7 August 03 in the afternoon, two children were badly injured when a car ran a red light on Granville Avenue near Minoru Park in Richmond and hit them while they were crossing the street with their mother in a crosswalk with the “walk” sign in their favour. At last reporting, the boy was in stable condition in Children’s Hospital and his sister was being treated for a skull fracture. A 38-year-old Burnaby man is facing charges. Speed and failing to comply with the road rules—the driver ran a red light—were factors

 

On 16 August 03 in the late night/early morning, a 59-year-old man rammed into a group of about 50 people leaving a bar in a town about 70 kilometers north of Montreal, killing an 18-year-old boy who became embedded in the windshield, and seriously injuring two others. The hit-and-run driver was caught an hour later with the teen still attached to his car. Alcohol may be a factor.   

 

All of the predestrians in these cases appear to be legally without fault. Proper pedestrian conduct for walking along the highways in British Columbia is set out in Section 182 of the Motor Vehicle Act (MVA). It says that if there is a sidewalk that is reasonably passable on either or both sides of a highway, a pedestrian must not walk on the roadway. If there is no sidewalk, a pedestrian walking along or on a highway must walk only on the extreme left side of the roadway or the shoulder of the highway, facing traffic approaching from the opposite direction. it also forbids hitchhiking and being on a roadway for the purposes of soliciting employemt or business form an occupant of a vehicle.

 

All of the pedestrians in these cases were in the right place but at the wrong time. This was the time when they encountered a driver who made one of the most commonly made bad driving decisions: driving while impaired, driving too quickly for the road conditions, driving without paying enough attention or driving too aggressively. Bad driving decisions such as these can be catastrophic.