Milan, killed by a pirate truck on a pedestrian crossing: 419 pedestrians have died since the beginning of the year

The woman of Peruvian origins who died on the morning of Wednesday 11 December in Milan was 34 years old. He was crossing the pedestrian crossing at the green light with his one and a half year old twins. With them also the 59-year-old grandmother who was injured not as seriously as the children. They were hit by a pirate truck in Viale Renato Serra on the corner with Viale De Gasperi, in the Fiera-Portello area. The driver of the truck fled without rendering aid.

In the videos you can see the woman with the double stroller and the grandmother. They cross the road and the truck turns right and hits them. More cameras are being checked and the search has expanded. The body is five meters from the point of impact. Initial reports say that the truck was coming from out of town and would have turned right at the green light. At this point, however, priority must be given to those crossing on the stripes.

The Corriere della Sera reports the statements of those who were in the area. A resident says: «It’s a dangerous intersection. Even with our kids, it’s the one place we say to be careful. We cross before there is a green light, because it is safer, given that the cars coming from that direction cannot turn. The green light is the same time as theirs, it confuses pedestrians and is dangerous, because here they don’t travel slowly. There are also vans, which sometimes speed by. It becomes really dangerous for kids.”

According to the monitoring data of theASAPS Pedestrian Observatory (Association of Supporters and Friends of the Traffic Police) – SAPIDATA up to 9 December, 419 pedestrians had died on the road: 284 men and 135 women, of which 224 were over 65 years old, 53% of the total. The first half of the year has already confirmed how pedestrians are the most defenseless users on the road, especially when they are elderly. Lombardy in first place among the Regions with the highest number of deaths (67), followed by Lazio (52) and Campania with 48 dead pedestrians, then Emilia Romagna which reached 40. In 2023, 485 pedestrians died.

The data in the report seems to detail this morning’s accident. «Many investments have occurred on pedestrian crossings, where failure to give way to pedestrians leads to a reduction of 8 points from the driving licence. It should be remembered that with the mini-suspension of the license, which will come into force on Saturday 14 December, the license will be immediately withdrawn for 7 days for those with less than 20 points on their license or for 15 days if they have less than 10 points, suspension doubled in the event of an accident and aggravated in the event of injury or death of the pedestrian”.

The report is partial and does not take into account the serious injuries who lose their lives months later. Istat only counts deaths in the first thirty days after the accident. In February there were 42 deaths. August ended with 40 deaths, it is the fourth worst month of the year after February, October (51) and November (53).