As a St Michael man remains hospitalised after a hit-and-run accident, his neighbours are calling for improvements to the road where he was struck.
Ronald Knight, 45, of Exchange Hill, St Michael, was struck in Bibby’s Lane, St Michael, a stone’s throw away from his home, late Sunday night.
Natalie Wilkinson, sister of Knight’s girlfriend, said the family was rallying around him at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). The handyman, a father of six, was scheduled for physical therapy.
She said she hoped the driver of the Suzuki Vitara sports utility vehicle (SUV), who hit him, would be quickly brought to justice. She took issue with the way people drove along the winding road.
“We were talking this morning and we realise this could happen to anybody. When we walking the road we don’t walk in the road, we walk like almost in the bush and it’s like the drivers take it for granted,” she said.
An eyewitness, calypsonian Mac Maclone Termite Nicholls, expressed shock about the incident.
The Bibby’s Lane resident said he heard the loud noise from his verandah and after the collision watched as the vehicle ran over Knight’s shoulder.
“I was standing up right here waiting for a drop and I hear ‘bup, bup’. By the time I heard the second ‘bup’, I saw [Knight] on the ground sprawl out and he was moaning. And then people start to come out and run behind the car, to get them to stop, but they went ’long. Even if that was a dog, you should stop,” he added.
Wilkinson and Nicholls, who were joined by others, called for better lighting and the installation of a sidewalk along the road on which motorists often drove quickly.
They also said the area needed debushing so pedestrians were not forced to walk into the path of approaching traffic.
“Everybody doesn’t drive the same but sometimes you find people speeding and in a corner like this, you shouldn’t be at no high speed,” said Nicholls.
In a press release, police appealed to anyone who witnessed the accident to contact District “A” Police Station at 430-7242 or 430-7246. (TG)
