Two pedestrians were struck and killed within minutes of each other Tuesday morning in separate collisions in the GTA.

In North York, a 26-year-old woman was struck and killed by the driver of a tractor trailer in a hit-and-run just after 7 a.m. at the intersection of Alness Street and Supertest Road, near Dufferin Street and Steeles Avenue West, police said.

The 52-year-old driver of the white, 2000 Freightliner commercial tractor — pulling a blue-coloured trailer — was making a right turn off Supertest, to the southbound lanes of Alness, when the woman was struck and killed.

The intersection has a traffic light with signals for pedestrians.

The driver of the truck failed to remain at the scene but was later located by traffic services investigators and is cooperating, police said.

Det. Brett Moore, of the traffic services division, said it was still “pretty dark” outside at the time the woman was hit.

The body of the victim, covered by an orange tarp, was in the marked cross path used by pedestrians to cross from the east side of Alness to the west. A dark-coloured knapsack was on the ground near the victim.

Investigators were canvassing for video footage and witnesses, and asking anybody who has information to contact police.

Alessio Cerasuolo was shocked when he dropped his wife off at work at a business about 20 metres west of the scene.

His wife has been working in the area for more than 20 years for a company that makes office chairs. He said that the block is frequented by drivers of heavy trucks which bring goods back and forth to warehouses and manufacturing companies.

Tractor trailers were seen making U-turns on Alness as drivers attempted to find alternative routes around the closed intersection, which was cordoned off with police tape until just before noon for the investigation.

This is the second pedestrian killed on Toronto streets since the start of the year. A 65-year-old man died Jan. 4 after being struck by the driver of a vehicle near Jarvis Street and Gerrard Street East. That was also a hit-and-run.

Nicole Sutherland, who was on her way to work at a high-end furniture business at the southwest corner of the intersection, was shaken when she heard the news. She has to take the bus to work.

Her employer notified her of the situation, but Sutherland said she had no information where the woman worked.

“There is a fair number of trucks that come into the area,” she said. “It’s more of an industrial area. There’s also a lot of bakeries.”

She said the area has a patchwork of sidewalks which isn’t great for pedestrian safety, especially after a major snowfall.

“There’s absolutely no sidewalks in some areas,” she said. “It’s terrible.”

In a statement, Mayor John Tory said he was “committed to redesigning our roads to make them safer for pedestrians.”

Tory also said he would be “consulting with Toronto Police, Transportation staff, and road safety advocates in the coming days about the need to increase penalties for drivers using our roads recklessly and with utter disregard for the lives of others.”

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Meanwhile in Brampton, a man was struck and killed by a motorist at Rutherford and Orenda roads just before 7:25 a.m.

Police initially reported that the driver of the vehicle failed to remain on scene, but later issued an update that the driver did remain at the scene of the collision.

Jan. 21, 2020 — Update: This story has been updated from a previously published version to update that police have found the driver wanted in the fatal collision in Toronto and police are now reporting that the driver remained at the scene in Brampton.

With files from Jacob Lorinc