The pedestrian crossing lights at the corner of Flinders and Elizabeth streets turned green. Tong “Tony” Li stepped out onto the intersection and then it all went dark.

He woke to a doctor standing over him in hospital and he begged to go back to sleep. He can’t remember if he spoke English or Mandarin but the pain was intense. He was fractured from head to toe.

“Why did you wake me up?” he asked.

On December 21 last year, a car drove through the intersection in the middle of Melbourne against a red light, hitting pedestrians like they were skittles.