The driver who struck a 72-year-old man in a Halifax crosswalk this weekend is speaking out, sharing her remorse and making a plea for the man now fighting for his life.

“If you are somebody who believes in God, I ask that you pray for him and his loved ones,” said Paige Farah in a video posted online.

Halifax Regional Police say the man suffered life-threatening injuries when he was struck walking in a marked crosswalk near the Armdale Rotary just after 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

“I turned off the Armdale Rotary and within the same second of losing my sight to the direct blinding sun in my eyes, I struck a pedestrian with my car,” she said in the video.

“I was immediately paralyzed by the absolute deepest and heaviest fear I have ever felt in my chest.”

Speaking exclusively with CTV News, Farah says she didn’t share her story in search of sympathy, but hopes it might help unite people to make Halifax’s streets safer.

“Does it mean looking at ways that we can design our streets to have crosswalks in a less high-traffic area?” she said.

She says she wants people to stop and recognize that though they might be doing everything right, other distractions may arise that, in a moment, could steer them to tragedy.

“I also want to do my role in reminding people just how fragile life is,” Farah said.

Farah, a community volunteer, started Progress in the Park, an initiative to help with community development in Halifax’s Mulgrave Park neighbourhood.

“I want to live my life helping people in whatever way I can, so to have this happen makes me realize I'm not invincible,” she said.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kayla Hounsell