The Vancouver Island man was treated for minor injuries by police at the scene

Pedestrian injured in crosswalk collisionEmergency personnel tend to a man who was struck by a car in a downtown Sidney crosswalk Tuesday afternoon. The man was treated for minor injuries. Please turn to page 5 for more.(Sidney/North Saanich RCMP Photo)

Moments after receiving a safety reflector designed to help increase pedestrian visibility, a Victoria-area man was struck by a car in downtown Sidney.

Sidney/North Saanich RCMP officers — who were standing on the edge of the sidewalk handing out the reflectors — immediately went to help the man, administering first aid and calling for an ambulance and other first responders.

Corporal Chris Manseau, the local RCMP detachment’s public affairs officer, said he’d just finished speaking to the man and giving him a reflector. The man then entered the crosswalk at Beacon Avenue and Third Street and was promptly struck by a car that had been waiting at the intersection.

Manseau said it was an unusual situation, that he happened to be the last person the man spoke with before being hit by a car.

The pedestrian was treated by paramedics at the scene and suffered a cut above one eye. The collision also broke the man’s glasses, but it could have been much worse.

Police officers and representatives from ICBC were in downtown Sidney helping promote better pedestrian safety — reminding people to use crosswalks, make eye contact with drivers and to wear bright clothing and reflectors in order to be better seen during the darker, rainier days of fall and winter on Vancouver Island.

Abbotsford News