City vendor struck by car

Despite being hit by a motorist this afternoon, the quick reaction time of a vendor might have saved her own life.

The elderly woman who has not yet been identified, along with another female were both injured when a car slammed into both of them at the corner of Spry Street and St Michael’s Row, The City around 2:45 p.m.

An ambulance from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) as well as a fire tender from the Probyn Street Fire Station responded to the incident.

Eyewitnesses said things could have been much worse if the vendor, who was referred to as Christina, did not quickly start to move away just before the car struck her.

The vendors who were plying their trade mere feet away from where the collision occurred told Barbados TODAY if their colleague had been sitting behind her tray she most likely would have been dead.

“She was standing up and when the car came down the road it wasn’t going fast, but when the car went to turn we heard this noise like if the driver was pressing the gas,” the vendor who did not give his name said.

“Christina like she realized what was happening and she was able to move just before the car hit her. She got hit pretty hard but it could have been worse.”

They said the vendor who is in her late 60s was bleeding from a cut to her right foot.

Another woman who was standing nearby was also struck by the vehicle, but not before pushing a young boy to safety.

Assistant Superintendent Elliot Bovell who was on the scene, told Barbados TODAY that from the information received two persons had been transported to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He said the female driver reported that she felt dizzy and in an attempt to press the brakes, she inadvertently stepped on the accelerator.

Police quickly cordoned off the area and quickly diverted traffic from Spry Street onto Church Village, causing a brief backup of traffic.

Up to press time the conditions of the victims were not known.