Man struck and killed in Tonawanda

TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WIVB) - A car struck and killed a man in the northtowns late Wednesday morning. The elderly victim apparently walked in front of a car.

Parker Boulevard in the Town of Tonawanda is a busy street. The high volume of traffic makes it a must for both pedestrians and vehicles to share the road safely.

But at 11:30 Wednesday morning, 97-year-old Alfonsas Sakavicius was struck and killed by a Toyota Prius. Investigators tell News 4 he was crossing the boulevard which is underneath the 290 overpass, near the Youngmann Highway.

Tonawanda Police Lieutenant Nicholas Bado said, "One of the issues that could come, come into play here is the change from the darkness to the light. Right in the middle of the overpass, there's a gap there, and you can see the sunlight coming through pretty bright."

In some cases, it is possibly bright enough to blind the driver.

The driver of the Toyota Prius that struck Sakavicius is Jean Rohrer. She's 81-years-old.

Lt. Bado said, "In terms of potential medical situations that might of caused difficulty with her seeing affected by that light change, those are one of the potential factors."

Lt. Bado doesn't foresee any charges being brought against the driver, "Just a tragic accident someone crossing the street and the driver not seeing them."

But Lt. Bado says there is another concern at the busy intersection here and one that's growing, "You know, we have all these electronic devices nowadays, and people's lives are so busy they're not focusing on what they're doing. They're kind of on auto pilot."

Because of the need to address the growing number of accidents, several investigators just returned from an accident investigation training course: a course specifically designed to investigate bicycle and pedestrian accidents.