14-year-old girl in hospital after hit by car at Main and Dundurn
Girl is in critical but stable condition, police focusing on 'high collision intersection corridors'
Hamilton police say a 14-year-old girl is in hospital after she was hit crossing the street in the city's west end on Wednesday.
She was alone, on her way home from school, Const. Indy Bharaj says, and was crossing the street at Dundurn and Main at roughly 2:30 p.m.
Police say the girl had the right of way while crossing, but then a driver in a white Hyundai SUV struck her.
She was immediately taken to McMaster Children's Hospital.
"Most updated information is that she is in critical but stable condition," Bharaj said.
Police say the driver, a 49-year-old Hamilton man, cooperated with investigators.
Bharaj said the collision reconstruction unit is still too early into its investigation to say what caused the crash.
"Speed and impairment have been ruled out as factors," he told CBC Hamilton on Thursday morning.
The incident comes amid a number of high-profile crashes involving vehicles hitting pedestrians.
Bharaj said it's up to drivers and pedestrians to make safe choices, but police have been focusing on "high-collision intersection corridors."
One recent crash saw a man steal a car near Barton and Kenilworth on March 19 and drive at a "high rate of speed" westbound toward King Street before hopping the curb, smashing into a concrete hydro pole and bursting into flames, police say.
The crash killed the driver of the vehicle and three others, including two people Pizza Pizza said were arriving to the restaurant to do maintenance work there.
In January, a 70-year-old man and his dog both died after they were hit as they crossed Lawrence Road near Cochrane Road in the city's east end.
A city councillor, Nrinder Nann (Ward 3, central lower city), has called for a comprehensive review of all major arterial roadways in Hamilton, such as the intersection of King Street and Main Street.