BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Wednesday 31st March 2021)– Two elderly pedestrians -a male and a female who are both believed to be in their 60s- have been left hurt in the aftermath of two separate traffic accidents while they were in motion of crossing the street in Basseterre which allegedly saw one being dragged and another flung, according to eyewitnesses.
The more recent accident took place on Tuesday 30th March 2021 on Cayon Street involving a the male pedestrian and a young male driver close to the junction featuring Victoria Road and Fort Street sometime before 11:00 AM.
Eyewitnesses say the man was using the crossing when the pedestrian signal timer was counting down and the traffic light was green.
This media house gathered that at that particular junction, the pedestrian signal allows for crossing and count downs while drivers get the green light.
“That’s why I always say when the light goes green, as a driver you don’t have to turn off immediately…You can wait a little bit just to make sure the road is clear and even when the light changes to red some drivers like to rush through still but drivers could wait a little bit still …because as soon as it turns red, the sign says to cross so therefore I think you could wait a little while just in case a pedestrian uses the crossing,” said a driver speaking with this media house.
“De man was walking cross. There’s no way the man couldn’t see him because you could either go right or left. He wasn’t watching; he must be was on he phone or something! De light was on but drivers gotta watch what dey doing…so dey jus watching a light?!,” another eyewitness said.
One more said, the old man was “already three quarts” on the crossing making his way from the side of Digicel’s office when the accident took place.
It is also alleged that the pedestrian was “dragged a little.”
Police say the incident occurred along Cayon Street in the vicinity of the intersection at Fort Street and Victoria Road sometime after 10 a.m. involving motor SUV PB 4966, which is owned and was being driven by Michael Bartlett of Shear Lane, Basseterre and pedestrian Albert Wyatt of Parson Village.
As reported, circumstances are that Wyatt was walking along the pedestrian crossing from Fort Street towards Victoria Road when the driver of motor SUV PB 4966, which was in the stop on Victoria Road, proceeded to turn left on Cayon Street after the traffic light turned green and struck the pedestrian.
Wyatt suffered lacerations to the head and was transported to J.N.F. General Hospital via the Emergency Medical Service where he is warded in a stable condition. Investigations into the matter are ongoing.
Five days before on Thursday 25th March, an elderly female pedestrian was hit by a vehicle on Government Headquarters near the intersection of Church and Central Streets at about 7:35 PM.
Eyewitnesses who said they saw the incident while travelling in a bus provided some details blaming the young male driver for being careless.
It was explained that they saw the driver in an attempt to seemingly beat the bus travelling on Church Street, did not use the stop sign but rather the opposite side of the road
“We does drive on de left side! Wha he doing over here?!,” said an upset eyewitness pointing to where the car was immediately following the accident.
This media house was also told that upon being struck by the vehicle, the woman was flung in the air before she dropped to the ground.
On Wednesday 31st March, an update indicated that the woman is recovering well.
“We thought her shoulder was broken because on the day of the accident, she complained about it but thankfully it’s not…She had an X-ray done. To think about her having to heal from such an injury at her age would have been difficult,” a source relayed.