Safety is a two-way street

One minute Hutt Valley resident Emma Davis was walking to Woburn Station intent on catching her train. The next she knew she was in an ambulance having been knocked unconscious by a vehicle on a pedestrian crossing.

The bubbly 20-year-old university student is now the star of a video, produced by Greater Wellington Regional Council, which features powerful CCTV footage, captured in late 2009, of her being thrown into the air and bouncing onto the road. She was hit just beyond the middle of the crossing by a vehicle travelling about 40kms per hour.

The driver of the vehicle was charged with careless driving causing injury. He was convicted and disqualified from driving for six months. At the time the driver said he couldn’t see Emma because of sun strike.

If the vehicle had been going much faster, Emma probably would not have survived.

“Every time I look at the video I think I am so lucky,” says Emma. “People who have seen it, mainly friends, tell me they’ve cried and I’ve shown it to my young cousins and told them to be really careful crossing the road.”

She suffered concussion, had some “beautiful bruises”, was on crutches for nearly three months and has a chip of bone floating permanently in her knee. “It’s still sore and I could never go running. If it locks up I could get it operated on but I would rather not.”

She wants the video to deliver a tough message to pedestrians and motorists to take extra care and slow down around pedestrian crossings.

“That day I had my i-pod in and all I was thinking about was getting to the train in time. I should have paid more attention – it’s up to all of us to take responsibility when we’re on the road.”

Simon Kennett, Greater Wellington’s Active Transport and Road Safety Coordinator, says in the five years up to 2010, there were 785 reported pedestrian injury crashes. Twenty of these were fatal.

“And the most likely age group is people aged between 20 – 24 years. We’re hoping that young people will share this video and get the message out that road safety is very much a two-way street – both motorists and pedestrians need to take responsibility. Motorists need to slow down, and pedestrians need to keep focused when they’re crossing the road. It’s a simple message but such an easy one to forget.”

Simon agrees with Emma that she was very lucky that the vehicle which struck her was travelling at the speed it was. “If it had been going any faster the consequences could have been so much worse.

“A number of people have commented that this video is shocking and not easy to watch. Crashes are horrible and have profound effects on those involved, their loved ones and witnesses. But they don’t need to happen and if this video prevents one crash, then it’s worked.”