Harvey Bruner, 54, of Jacksonville, was struck and killed in Clay County on Friday, January 17, while trying to cross a busy boulevard.
Officials with Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), say Bruner was attempting to cross Blanding Boulevard in Clay County from the west to the east side. He was walking eastbound in the southbound lanes when a black Chevrolet HHR SUV driving southbound hit him. The front of the Chevrolet then came to a rest facing the southbound area, partly in the left and center lanes.
Bruner was pronounced dead at the scene, and the Chevrolet driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
The top cities for pedestrian deaths in Florida
Sadly, this is a common scenario in Florida, which leads the nation in pedestrian deaths. People in vehicles that hit pedestrians often suffer minor or no injuries at all, while the impact of a large, fast vehicle like an SUV can cause serious injury or death to a pedestrian.
Nine of the 20 deadliest US cities for pedestrians are in Florida, with Orlando ranked as the least safe, and the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolis ranked No. 14 in the 2019 “Dangerous By Design” report.
Between 2008 and 2017, the state saw 5,433 pedestrian deaths, for an annual average of 2.73 pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people, or a Pedestrian Danger Index (PDI) calculated as 182.0.