‘When you have a two-ton vehicle coming at you, you just can’t win.’
Pedestrian fatalities are tragic reminders of the rules of the road
The middle-aged man was killed walking to his job at a Cheektowaga candy shop at 6:15 a. m.
An 84-year-old Village of Hamburg man died walking across the street for breakfast in broad daylight.
And a 19-year-old college student was killed walking back to Hilbert College in Hamburg from her job at a haunted house in the morning’s wee hours.
All were pedestrians who were struck and killed in the last couple of months on Western New York streets and roads.
And they weren’t alone. At least seven area pedestrians, ranging in age from 19 to 85, have been struck and killed since Oct. 18.
The toll rises to eight if you include the death of Lindsay K. Matthews, 19, a standout Geneseo State College soccer player from Orchard Park, who died in
November, four days after being struck by a tractor-trailer as she walked on Route 63 in Geneseo.
The other seven fatalities occurred all over Erie and Niagara counties — in Buffalo, Lancaster, Hamburg, Cheektowaga, Amherst and Niagara Falls.
In two cases, police lodged DWI charges against the drivers. Two other drivers were charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident; in those cases, police have said they have some indication the drivers may have been drinking.
A combination of factors also contributed to the fatalities, including excessive speed, people walking across the street in the middle of the block, bad weather, driver or pedestrian inattention, the victims wearing dark clothing and poorly lighted areas.
Perhaps the most common denominator in the cases: Six of the fatalities occurred in the dark.
Accident investigators, while struck by the number of pedestrian deaths, weren’t surprised by their occurrences at the time of year, on the cusp of winter.
“I’m shocked at seven fatalities,” said Capt. Salvatore Pino, who heads the Niagara Falls Police Traffic Division.
“Often in the wintertime,” he explained, “a lot of pedestrians are struck because it gets dark earlier, and sometimes the sidewalks aren’t cleared, and there’s just no place else to walk.”
There’s no mystery about the lessons that can be learned — again — from these tragedies.
“It’s important to remember that, as a pedestrian, you have to think back to the rules you learned in kindergarten,” Cheektowaga Capt. John Glascott said. “Look both ways before you cross the street, to make sure no traffic is coming, and make sure you’re visible, wearing light or reflective clothing.”
Four drivers have been charged with serious crimes — two with DWI and two others with leaving the scene of a fatal accident. If those charges are proved, those four are the real culprits.
All seven local pedestrians, from their teens to mid-80s, were killed while doing the most common everyday tasks, never thinking their lives would end in an instant.
Thomas M. Hajduk, 51, of Lancaster, and Rakhil Lifshits, 85, of Amherst, both were killed while walking in their neighborhoods.
James L. Walters, 84, was crossing the street in Hamburg to have breakfast.
Paul Albano, 54, of Cheektowaga, was walking to work.
Mark A. Milczarski, 38, of Niagara Falls, was walking back from a convenience store with a friend.
Meghan Sorbera, 19, from the Cooperstown area, was walking with friends back to Hilbert College in the Town of Hamburg after having worked at a haunted house.
And Amanda S. Knowlton, 23, was crossing the street in Buffalo to take her 4-year-old son to a baby sitter.
All seven were unknowing victims, and no one’s blaming them.
Sadly, these incidents, even though the pedestrians were without fault, provide lessons about walking safely on or across area roads.
Three of the victims were trying to cross the street in the middle of the block, while another was crossing against the traffic light.
Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Western New Yorkers cross in the middle of the block every day, without incident.
“I see people do it all the time,” said Capt. Patrick McKenna, commander of the Amherst police Accident Investigation Unit. “It’s human nature. People are going to take the shortest way. Sometimes that’s fine. But sometimes they don’t make it.”
Cheektowaga’s victim, Albano, was killed while doing what many pedestrians do, wearing dark clothing and walking in the middle of the block, during a heavy rain on a dark predawn morning, police say.
Police also found his cell phone at the scene, and they’re still trying to determine whether he was talking on his phone when he was struck.
“You need to be paying attention to what you’re doing, whether you’re driving or crossing the street,” Glascott said.
In at least one case, police are awaiting toxicology results to see if the victim had been impaired by alcohol.
While there’s no law against “walking while intoxicated,” investigators point out that being impaired or drunk could limit a pedestrian’s chances of avoiding an accident.
These cases also show that pedestrians, even when they’re completely in the right, can be killed.
The lesson: Be defensive.
“It’s like what I tell people, even when they’re using a crosswalk,” said Capt. Michael Melisz from the Hamburg village police. “You can’t assume that vehicles are going to be stopping for pedestrians. You just don’t know what the drivers are going to do.”
Pedestrians waiting for the traffic light to change can put themselves at danger just by stepping off the sidewalk too quickly, especially when a driver swerves quickly or speeds through a yellow or red light.
“When you have a two-ton vehicle coming at you, you just can’t win,” Melisz said.
Glascott, from Cheektowaga, trotted out an adage from his days as an investigator.
“There’s an old rule in any accident investigation, that the bigger car always wins,” Glascott said.
“And in the case of a pedestrian, the car’s always bigger.”
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