Vehicle located in fatal Lawrence Road hit-and-run that killed man and dog: Hamilton police
Hamilton police say they have seized the vehicle driven in a hit-and-run that killed a 70-year-old man and his dog on Lawrence Road.
The Hamilton man and his three-year-old dog were crossing Lawrence, just east of Cochrane Road, around 8:30 p.m. Jan. 30 when he was struck by what police previously described as a Dodge Dakota pickup. The vehicle didn't stop.
Jiri Zahorka, who lives on Lawrence, told The Spectator he heard a thump and a dog yelp that night. He and his wife looked out the window, but it was dark and they couldn't see anything. About 20 minutes later, he went outside and found the dog and man and called 911.
On Thursday, Hamilton police confirmed the vehicle was found, but have not released any further details about the crash. The investigation has been transferred from the collision reconstruction unit to the east-end criminal investigation branch. The transfer is due to caseload; collision reconstruction still handles the technical crash evidence.
No one has been charged.
The man's death marked the first traffic fatality for Hamilton this year. It's also among a number of recent incidents involving senior pedestrians.
A man in his 70s was seriously hurt Feb. 5 at Upper James Street and Fennell Avenue East. He was crossing the street when he was hit. In that case, the driver remained on scene and was co-operating with police.
On Jan. 4, a 71-year-old man died after being hit by a school bus on Kenilworth Avenue North at Cannon Street East Dec. 13.
Hamilton police responded to 135 collisions involving pedestrians in 2021, including nine deaths and five people who were seriously hurt. There were 121 cases where pedestrians suffered minor injuries.
According to the city's 2020 annual collision report, pedestrian collisions fluctuated between 192 and 295 in the past 10 years. Cyclist collisions have fluctuated between 128 and 193 in that time.
Lawrence Road, the site of the fatal hit-and-run, sees moderate" traffic volumes, between 10,000 and 14,000 vehicles a day on average, said city spokesperson Jasmine Graham.
In 2017 and 2018, the city installed six dynamic speed signs - which read a person's speed and display it on a screen - along the road. And in 2020, sections of the road between Cochrane Road and Mount Albion Road, and between Gage Avenue and Ottawa Street, were designated community safety zones with speed limits of 50 km/h.
The street was also part of an automated speed enforcement pilot that saw temporary photo-radar set up in various locations. Lawrence had two photo-radars set up, between Gage and Ottawa and the other between Cochrane and Mount Albion. Both locations showed a decrease in average speed, although several days of data are missing after vandals damaged one of the photo-radar boxes.
In total, more than 1,100 charges were laid. The highest speed recorded was 110 km/h.
Overall, the number of collisions on Lawrence Road has decreased over the last seven years, with the number of injury collisions fluctuating between one and six, according to city data. More than half the collisions - 73 per cent - happened in intersections.
Pedestrian collisions make up a smaller number of crashes on Lawrence, including: two in 2015 and one each for 2016 and 2018. These collisions happened at the intersections of Cochrane Road and Rosedale Avenue.
Cyclist collisions include three in 2016, two in 2019 and one each in 2018 and 2021 - all but one happened in intersections.
The investigation into the hit-and-run is ongoing. Anyone with information who has not yet spoken with police is asked to call 905-546-2907.
Nicole O'Reilly is a crime and justice reporter at The Spectator. noreilly@thespec.com