About the accident 11 Nov 2017
Hartmut A. KruppkeOfficer who contacted me: rob.phoenix@vpd.ca
Date of Accident: 8:42pm; Nov 11, 2017,
Vancouver Police Department - Accident Report : 17-273-083
Location (apparently) Brunswick Ave @ Broadway
ICBC claim number ay 1804 4-3
my phone#: 778-829-3556
my email: cheerful2a9@gmail.com
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Gaining clarity after the accident
At first : No clear memory due to severity of injury
At first, due to damage and the bleeding on the brain that I had suffered I was unconscious for more than a day.
When I awoke again, I had no clear memory of the event. This is not surprising given how critical the situation was at the time:.
- Briefly, to give further insight:
Members of my family in Germany had been contacted by the police force or the VGH social worker to notify them of the accident. As my sister told me later, when she phoned the hospital worker on the day after the accident (they are 9 hours ahead of our local time) she was told that they did not know yet if I would still be alive at the end of the day.
Memory comes back in night dreams
Over time the image of what had happened re-emerged in my mind, as I am describing below, much of it becoming clearer when waking in the middle of the night - a number of times - with the feeling of having woken from a bad dream. So over time a more distinct recollection emerged.
Your question on your phone call about my usual routines of walking in the area
My walking habits
As a long time resident I am very familiar with this 3-block stretch of Brunswick Street. I walk at a rather moderate pace, as my purpose is for relaxation, for fresh air, a desire for some physical activity, get some exercise or for taking a break from my writing related or other mental activity.
I live my life at an unhurried pace, and have no need or desire to rush across the street or get into a competition who goes first, me or an approaching car.
On my daily walks even along the quiet side streets I am careful, yet more so when daylight fades away. When crossing the small side streets like 7th and 8th Avenue, I certainly pay attention to approaching cars, I do not just mindlessly walk across.Going towards Broadway I usually use the sidewalk on the west side of Brunswick St., the same side as my residence at the South-West corner of 6th Avenue @ Brunswick Street. Almost always there are many parked cars so that pedestrians are well protected from the traffic moving along Brunswick..
Crossing a major street, like Broadway, Main St, etc
- When I get to the intersection with Broadway or other big streets, I always stop on the corner of the sidewalk, at least for a moment. I then turn my head to the left and look for the traffic coming this way as these cars move on the first 3 lanes I'll need to cross.
- Then I turn my head the other way to see the traffic in the lanes on the opposite side.
I always wait until there is no moving traffic in either direction. Only then do I step out onto the pavement and start walking across, proceeding in a straight line which on Broadway takes about 18 to 21 seconds.
* This has been my habit for many years.
The accident event
As I remember
Just before the accident I had l left the house intending to do a 20 or 30 minute evening walk for relaxation. I dropped a bag of garbage into the bin behind the house, then walked along the sidewalk that is on the same side of the street as my residence - which is at the south-west corner of 6th Avenue @ Brunswick Street. Even along the small side streets like 7th and 8th Avenue, especially at night, I hesitate for a moment before crossing to assure myself that there is no traffic approaching.
At the intersection
At the end of Brunswick - stopped at the corner as is my habit - I looked East for approaching traffic, taking a couple extra moments because it was dark already. As I indicated above, I do not start walking across the street until there is no car approaching in either the west-bound and east bound lanes. As I am not doing so during daylight hours, I absolutely would not walk across after nightfall if any traffic at all is approaching.
-- At that point in time while I was checking for traffic from the east there was no car waiting or moving into the intersection from Brunswick Street.
- Next I took a look west for cars coming from there, again being mindful of night time traffic. Only then did I start walking out onto the pavement.- The car that hit me arrived and entered the intersection only after I had started walking and it came around the corner too fast and too suddenly and left too little time to get out of its way and avoid getting hit by it.
[images below : Looking West and East on Broadway. Images taken on a different day than the accident, but roughly the same time, and this matches very well the appearance coming back to my memory from the time of the accident.
This is what the situation looks like and that I would wait for before I decide to walk across the road in the evening. Note: The two distant head-lights in the left image are from a #8 Fraser Bus at the bus stop ]
Broadway - looking West |
Looking East |
- - - If there had been a car at that moment entering Broadway at the Brunswick intersection I would have noticed it without doubt; The corner is not dark. For illustration see two images below . - - - Especially in the evening, I would not go ahead and cross in any direction at all, but stop until I had determined that the driver has seen me, and that I know his intention : Will he wait or move? It means at the moment in question there was no car in the process of exiting Brunswick Street. |
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Sample view of corner, after dark: Couple walking east along Broadway, crossing Brunswick Street intersection in front of waiting car, toward the restaurant at the east corner.  |
Sample view after dark: car turning onto Broadway; looking East  |
| STOP sign at the corner (image taken in afternoon) After dark, display windows and Neon sign of Kingsgate Mall sheds additional lighting onto Broadway. |
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There is a clearly visible STOP sign at that corner but the driver rushed past it without stopping The Driver who collided with me did not come to a halt and kept moving at fairly energetic speed around the corner. | 
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Analyzing the event
What the driver sees when approaching Broadway from Brunswick St
Images taken from the intersection of Brunswick at 8th Avenue. Pedestrians on the sidewalk may not necessarily be apparent to the driver approaching the intersection.| 1. Large Industrial disposal Container (been there for at least a year); for use by construction on its right View -- about a 50 meter distance from Broadway 
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2.Most of the time cars are parked beside the restaurant at this corner. Mark's Neon sign and Mall windows across the street. This view = about 25 meters from intersection
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Pedestrians are crossing Broadway from Brunswick Street quite frequently throughout the day
While taking these images of the corner it became soon apparent that a significant number of drivers coming up along Brunswick Street do not obey the stop sign but turn onto Broadway without stopping, often at a considerable speed.
Car on Brunswick Street
1. Pedestrian has stepped off the sidewalk and started walking straight across the street. Car approaches south along Brunswick Street, still at a safe distance, and out of view of the pedestrian
2. It takes the car approximately 4.5 seconds (timing from the video recording) when the driver gets to the point where now he can begin to see the westbound traffic that is approaching on Broadway. Driver's head and attention is now turned east, (driver's head turned to his left side).The car is still moving forward, steering already turning in the opposite direction -- towards the driver's right side (westward), and now beginning to make its turn around the corner.The driver must obviously have had his head turned east to check whether any traffic is coming from there. After entering the intersection far enough to see that there were no cars coming from there, he just kept going.But by the time the driver has entered the intersection far enough where he can see the west-bound traffic from there – and has made his decision – at the speed he is going the car has already done about half of the turn into the westward direction.
3. Only 1.4 secs later the car is already where it would hit a pedestrian who is crossing Broadway, continuing in a straight line from Brunswick Street sidewalk.Barely enough time has elapsed for driver to rotate his head and start focusing in the opposite direction he is intending to go.
Of the many times I awoke in the middle of the night, this is the kind of memory that is the most persistent one, and is now quite clear. And this memory is a dark car coming around the corner swiftly straight at me, and he could have noticed me only at the very last moment.
Approaching the intersection with the main road at night time, even if slowing down a bit near the corner, not obeying the STOP sign but rushing through it, continue turning the corner while looking in the opposite direction for traffic -- and not leaving sufficient time for a safety check in the direction of the turn – leaves the driver fully responsible for the accident.
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Claims by the driver
reported Claim: No damage to the car proves that the car did not hit me
As far as I have been informed, the driver claims that he did not hit me, and that I "fell down". As his proof apparently he points out that there is no damage to the car.I have no way of assessing any damage to his car. It is however quite easy to guess that when hitting a pedestrian with a speed in the range of something maybe like 15+(?) km per hour, fully dressed in soft winter clothing for an evening walk, the impact would lift the person's legs off the ground, and so it is unlikely to leave any noticeable damage on the car. This claim seems more an attempt to escape any blame for the accident than providing evidence.
the driver's claim that I "fell down"
--- The driver's claim that I "fell down" is even more so an attempt to hide the real nature and escape blame for the accident, and with the probable intention of instead shifting any blame on a suggestion of an old, confused and frail senior person who lacked concentration, forgetful and not too sure where he was going. Even a less serious scenario does not mesh with this claim. As I described above, this does not describe me. I take care to assess the traffic, and do not proceed across the road until I feel safe to do so.-
--- If I had simply tripped on something to make me fall down there would have to be some object to trip on. However 5 or 10 feet from the corner there is only the flat surface of the pavement. Any object to trip on would have been noticed by the ambulance personnel. At that location, the edge of the sidewalk is indented, which even eliminates any danger of tripping off the edge of the sidewalk.
--- In any case, if stepping off the sidewalk would have made me fall down this would still have been in the curb lane (the Broadway lane occupied at this time of day by a number of parked cars) but not further out in the inner lanes of the road.
– Another key difference, if I had tripped I would have fallen forward and braced and softened my fall with my outstretched arms, with the result of no more than a few scratches on my hands. Certainly I would not have suffered a life-threatening injury leaving me unconscious for more than a day. So this claim of "falling down" does not hold up, but is pure fabrication.
The driver's claim of me "Falling down" re: my physical condition before the accident
If the driver wants to suggest old-age related lack of attention (a bit of dementia?) and frailty, it is quite off the mark, merely an attempt to escape responsibility.--- I have never had an incident where my mind suddenly blanked out and caused me to collapse unconscious in the middle of a street or anywhere else.
--- I am a physically fit walker. For many years, in order to maintain health and mobility I have had a regular routine of walking as a daily exercise. Even now I walk up and down the staircase of my residence at least twice a day to go outside or check the mailbox, and have no trouble doing so.
Practically every day of the year I go outside, whether sunshine, rain, or snow. I walk mostly for at least one hour, partly along the streets, partly inside stores or the nearby malls, sometime along places like False Creek or up in Lynn Valley in the North Shore hills.
A number of times I have walked the 5 km stretch from my home to 49th Ave @ Fraser Street, where I often go shopping for fruit and vegetables, and occasionally both ways there and back which amounts to 10 km.
-- Every summer I rode the bike 1 to 3 times per week.
-- Also, I do not take recreational drugs (never have !), do not suffer from any addictions, and consume no more than minimal quantities of alcohol as will be apparent from the blood tests taken at the hospital after the accident .
Life style, mental activity at the time of the accident: Not a confused elderly
My days include mental activities, at home such as writing (primary subjects are literary, much of it on issues related to sciences), and out of the house, attending literary meetings with a local writers group.The claims by the driver is way off base, dishonest, for the purpose of avoiding responsibility for the accident.
As mentioned above, I have a good physical health status, and I am certainly not a frail old person who has trouble staying on his feet and loses his balance once in a while, nor someone who inattentively stumbles on the street and "falls down" on the pavement, as suggested by the driver's comment.The driver went around the corner, counting on the absence of traffic - there were no cars passing by on Broadway while he came up the last 50 meters part of Brunswick Street nor when he looked east at the corner, so he ignored the stop sign, and went around the corner at a careless speed.
This video is at https://vimeo.com/262495882
Of course I recorded this during daytime hours, looking along Brunswick Street from the other side of the intersection, on a date much later than the accident, at an unknown driver and unknown car that happened to appear while observing the corner.
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| However, the car turning the corner has a vivid resemblance to the memories that came to me over time, as mentioned above |