UPDATE: Pedestrian Struck by Car on Magnolia Avenue
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The 21-year-old female driver of a gold Honda Accord was attended to by Auburn Fire Department. Blakeley Sisk/ PHOTO EDITOR
The male victim was taken to the East Alabama Medical Center for treatment. Blakeley Sisk/ PHOTO EDITOR
Haluk Yapicioglu, a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in the College of Engineering, was struck while walking across the crosswalk in between Cox Street and North Donahue Drive at 8:23 p.m. by 21-year-old Lois Jackson, junior in human development and family sciences, driving a gold Honda Accord.
Last night, Yapicioglu was transported to East Alabama Medical Center for treatment. He is now in the Intensive Care Unit at the Atlanta Medical Center, according to a hospital representative.
The accident is under investigation, said Captain Tom Stofer of the Auburn Police Department
"I haven't been told (his condition) is life threatening," Stofer said. "It was my understanding that alcohol was not a factor in the accident."
Katrina Morozzi of New Jersey was on the balcony of her boyfriend's Brown Crest condominium when the accident occurred.
"I was just looking that way, and I thought the car was going to stop," Morozzi said, "but it didn't. Nobody was saying anything to him, and he didn't look like he was moving."
Morozzi's boyfriend, Robert Green, junior in communications, called 911 immediately after the accident occurred.
"I was inside when it happened, but I heard it from inside," Green said. "It sounded like a gun shot."
Megan Moore, junior in marketing, had just finished taking a Principles of Finance test when she and her boyfriend, Joel Wood, senior in business administration, arrived at the scene of the accident.
"We came out of the front door of Lowder," Moore said, "and we turned the corner, and we saw someone lying in the street, and we walked up to make sure he was conscious and breathing. His shoe was in the crosswalk, and he was about 20 yards away toward Momma G's."
Moore and Wood stayed at the scene for about 10 minutes until the police arrived.
"He was conscious, but not really with it, obviously," Moore said. "We were just trying to tell him to stay down and not move, and he kept asking people to hold his hand."
And ultimately that's what we need to take from this. It was an accident and probably could have been prevented if either party were paying closer attention. This should be a reminder to all of us to be on our guard at all times, even with the law on your side.
It won't mean much to claim you had the right of way when you're in the ICU or a jail cell.
the foreigner
What the hell is wrong with you!!! You insist on f... not understand the real issue here or ur just being a dumbass.
It is that girl's fault regardless of whether he had on dark clothing and whether it was dark. Even if she was observing the speed limit (which she obviously wasn't), it would still be her fault. I understand it was an accident, but it's still her fault. Whether she's nice or not. More people need to pay attention while driving. Auburn has been moving towards a more pedestrian campus for years, so drivers need to realize that people are going to walk across crosswalks and pay more attention.
For all of you saying that he's foreign and making various other stereotyping comments... This guy was working on his ph.d... I highly doubt any of you would graduate from Auburn, let alone get that far in secondary education. Go back to your hick towns so you don't have to deal with actual diversity and culture. You might actually be seen as "intelligent" in those white trash towns.
I think the city and university should split the costs of some temporary lighting until more street lights can be put up. Then again, we could also get a stop sign just before EVERY crosswalk and a cop sitting out there to write tickets to those who run them to raise money for lights. Apparently too many people don't understand the point of a crosswalk. I don't know too many people that can outrun a speeding vehicle.... foreign or domestic. I think giving tickets to those not observing crosswalks would be another excellent start. NO ONE SHOULD FEAR CROSSING THE STREET ON A COLLEGE CAMPUS!!!
Temporary Fix:
We’ve all see those generator-powered lights around campus and on road construction sites. I say put one of those at each crosswalk until a more permanent solution can be installed. Based on my research these units can be rented for about $500/month, a cost I think the city and university could split.
Permanent Fix:
More lights of course. The lights along magnolia avenue need to be closer to the ground and crosswalks. I would like to see lamp posts closer to each crosswalk and maybe even a system to alert drivers that a pedestrian is crossing, something like this http://www.xwalk.com/
The university doesn't care enough about its students to petition the city council of Auburn to do anything about it, end of story!
stop talking about foreign people. They should all be gone anyways
Chuck Michaels
KA Fraternity PRIDE!
It is a law that the pedestrian has the right of way. We know this. People don't always obey the law. If you have total faith in people obeying the law then God help you crossing the street.
It is ALWAYS good to look both ways, get off the phone, and take the ear plugs out before you cross the street.
Now that is reasonable.
You are being totally unreasonable. It is not about obeying the law. If you don't obey the law and you hit a pedestrian, you will be held responsible and suffer the consequences. That is all it is about. The driver has pretty high stakes at hand not to hit a pedestrian crossing the street. Using the crosswalkl pedestrian doesn't have to look around to save his ass. It is the driver's responsibility BY LAW !!!! That is how it is wherever in the world you go.
You try walking out into the street...without looking...expecting the law to save your ass from someone hitting you. See how that works out for you.
What are you talking about man? Crossing the streets is not a rocket science. I am pretty sure everone on earth has pretty much the same idea about it. How do you assume other countries have different rules about crossing the streets? If it is the law, cars must stop and give the right of way to the pedestrians. If not they suffer the consequences.
One more thing, all the ignorant comments about, how he is a foreigner and foreigners don't know how to cross a street are way over the top. Even a three-year old would laugh at these comments. On the contrary to a belief that many Americans have, there is a civilization outside of U.S. and people do actually know how to cross a street...
Liberty Eagle