Colorado Law Enforcement Asks Drivers To Pay Attention After 2 Men Killed On East Colfax Avenue
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - Law enforcement in Colorado are pleading with drivers to pay attention after two men were killed near the intersection of East Colfax avenue and North Uvalda Street on Friday night. Police said the men, who have not been identified yet, were killed by different vehicles.
"It's always hard to go to a crash of a pedestrian and a vehicle because the pedestrian will always be on the losing end," said Sergeant Troy Kessler, with Colorado State Patrol.
Aurora police said the first man was crossing the street, not using a crosswalk, when he was hit by a driver. The driver who struck him then stopped and got out of his car to help, but that's when a different car hit him. Currently, police don't believe speed or alcohol were factors in the accidents.
"It's hard to go to these crash scenes and deal with what we see on unfortunately a somewhat regular basis," Kessler said.
But, who's responsible when it comes to auto-pedestrian safety? Kessler told CBS4 there are multiple contributors from laws to the lack of street lights, but a lot of it is also dependent on the driver and the pedestrian.
"Use the infrastructure that is designed for pedestrians: sidewalks, crosswalks, crossing signals, because they are designed to keep people safe that are on foot," Kessler said. "And state patrol, we talk about distracted driving, and not driving impaired, there's factors like that that will play into weather you see the pedestrian or not."
Kessler said auto-pedestrian accidents are becoming more common, and we may begin to see even more with warmer weather coming in.
"There's going to be more pedestrians walking around," said Kessler. "Put those cell phones down, pay attention, and avoid being in a situation like this."
The department is asking anyone who may have witnessed the crash or has dash-camera footage of the crash to contact the Aurora Police Traffic Section.