ROANOKE, Va. – In a concerning trend, Roanoke has seen two pedestrian crashes within two days, both resulting in people being hospitalized.
Raising urgent questions about road safety in Roanoke city.
Thursday night, a person was trying to cross Plantation Road when they were hit by a car, according to police.
Then the day after, police said a man was hit on Hershberger Road.
“There really hasn’t been a pattern. We’ve had them occur at crosswalks, we’ve had them occur on roads with no sidewalks, they’ve occurred at night, during the day, there’s been a variety,” Matthew Demlein, a spokesperson for Virginia State Police said.
Virginia State Police is urging pedestrians to be aware while walking in the city.
“Walk against traffic, it allows you to see traffic coming towards you and it makes yourself more visible. And really, just do everything you can to increase your visibility, and also don’t be distracted yourself. Don’t be looking at your phone if there’s traffic in the area, you want to be paying attention,” Demlein said.
But Virginia State Police said it’s not only the pedestrian’s responsibility to stay vigilant — drivers also need to keep their eyes peeled.
“Just be extra cautious, be aware of your surroundings, obviously limit distractions, just really keep your eyes on the road. A car is a dangerous vehicle, it’s a large vehicle the more careful you are with it the more likely you are to save lives.”
Although these past two pedestrian crashes in Roanoke have not been deadly, Virginia State Police tell us, as of Friday morning there have been 21 pedestrian deaths in Virginia just this year, but that is behind last year’s number of pedestrian deaths, which was at 23.