Pedestrian hit by bus in Wellington

A pedestrian has been hit by a bus in central Wellington this morning, the 14th such incident in the capital since bus lanes were introduced two years ago.

The woman in her 40s was knocked down on the corner of Hunter and Featherston streets just after 8.30am.

An ambulance communications spokeswoman said she was taken to Wellington Hospital with facial injuries.

A witness said the woman was lying in the middle of the road before emergency services arrived.

Police are investigating.

Among those hit by buses were Vanessa Green, who was killed last year, and Tim Brown, a director of NZ Bus, who suffered serious injuries last month and was released from hospital earlier this month.

A safety report commissioned by the city council laid some blame with pedestrians for not looking properly before crossing streets.

It found that of 1386 pedestrians observed, 25 failed to look right until they were 2.5 metres into the road and 74 barely glanced right.

Another report made a number of recommendations to curb the number of crashes.

Among them was to close the Bond St exit to Willis St to traffic, where there have been a number of collisions between buses and cars in the last two years.

Temporary barriers will remain in place until other measures aimed at improving pedestrian safety are introduced.

The council has said it will begin implementing the safety recommendations as soon as possible.

 

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