Woman struck by car along Midland Avenue has died

UPDATE: The 62-year-old woman who was hit by a car along Midland Avenue on Friday has died. Rochester Police say she died on Monday morning. Police are still investigating what caused the crash and anyone with information is asked to call 911.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A 62-year-old woman was rushed to Strong Memorial Hospital after being hit by a car along Midland Avenue around 2 p.m. Friday.

It’s part of a disturbing uptick in the number of pedestrians being hit by motor vehicles.

The woman, whose name has not yet been released by police, was in surgery Friday. Rochester police earlier had said she was in critical condition.

Evelyn Gonzalez was home at the time of the crash when the woman — the mother of one of her longtime friends — was hit by a car before it sped off.

“There was a hit and run that happened. Unfortunately, the person who did get hit is someone I know. So it’s kind of like, I don’t know, personal,” Gonzalez said.

“You would think people would sit here and be more cautious, especially being that there’s a lot of kids that play around this area because 39 school is right here,” Gonzalez said.

According to the national nonprofit Governors Highway Traffic Association, which tracks pedestrian-vehicle crashes, there were 7,500 pedestrians killed by cars last year — the highest number since 1981. Pedestrian fatalities in the U.S. increased by 62% from 2009-2020.

In Monroe County, there were nearly 5,500 crashes involving bicyclists and pedestrians from 2012 to 2021. More than 80% of them resulted in injury or death.

These are reasons why Gonzalez said that people need to slow down and possibly save a life.

“You know, use your brain. you know like they say with the motorcycles. Think twice or look twice and save a life. Look twice and save lives because there are people who actually do walk in the streets. Cars just turn. Run over stop signs. I’ve seen it all,’ Gonzalez said.