Another Pedestrian Hit By Vehicle On Austin Roadways

AUSTIN, TX -- It’s become a near-daily occurrence: Another pedestrian has been struck by a vehicle on an Austin roadway.

This time, it happened in North Central Austin, where a man in his 50s was struck by a vehicle Thursday evening.

Emergency first responders got the call at 8:54 p.m. of a downed pedestrian at 5819 Burnet Rd. There, they found a man in his 50s seriously injured, although with injuries not expected to be life threatening.

The pedestrian was transported to University Medical Center-Brackenridge for treatment of his injuries, according to Austin-Travis County EMS officials. No further details were made available.

Yet one detail is is inevitably clear: The man is but the latest pedestrian to be hit by a vehicle on Austin’s ever-congested streets -- an incident that seems to be occurring on a nearly daily basis.

On the same night as the incident, Austin police sent out a call to residents in the hopes of finding the hit-and-run driver who earlier struck two pedestrians in East Austin -- including a man in his 20s clinging to life after suffering life-threatening injuries.

And just last Friday, Fabian Balderas-Cerritos died on the asphalt along the 1100 block of South Interstate 35 northbound -- a stretch of dimly lit roadway police later suggested he shouldn’t have attempted to cross.

Barely 30 years old, Balderas-Cerritos was hit by several vehicles after being initially struck. To a motorist, no one stopped to check on him, according to witnesses. Other vehicles swerved to avoid his lifeless body on the roadway, but, according to police, no one stopped.

It was only until Austin-Travis County EMS officials arrived that his body was retrieved from the road.

Before that, in the first week of March, a man in his 40s was hit by a city bus -- again in East Austin. EMS crews were met with a grisly scene in responding, finding the man pinned underneath the vehicle as they extracted his body from the road beneath.

That’s just this month. There have been others -- some seriously injured, others escaping with minor scrapes but still more meeting their deaths in the unforgiving roadways.

Sadly, it’s likely the latest pedestrian to be hit tonight won’t be the last.

It’s become a near-daily occurrence.