Toronto police say five separate collisions involving pedestrians occurred within a two-hour span on Tuesday evening.
The most serious collision happened when a 70-year-old woman was struck by a pickup truck as she tried to cross a street, just as it began getting dark.
Paramedics say the woman was unconscious but breathing when emergency crews arrived on the scene (in the Dundas Street West and Dupont Street area) just after 4:30 p.m.
Const. Clint Stibbe says the woman suffered life-threatening injuries, including facial and head trauma, and was rushed to a local trauma centre.
Police say the pickup, driven by a 45-year-old man, was turning left when the pedestrian was struck.
The pedestrians in the four other collisions on Tuesday were not seriously injured.
The five pedestrian collisions occurred one day after police launched their pedestrian safety campaign — Step Up and Be Safe — following the weekend time change when clocks were set back an hour.
As part of the weeklong campaign, police say they will be paying special attention to crosswalks, intersections and school zones with a focus on seniors.
According to police, November has traditionally been the month when pedestrians are involved in the most collisions. Stibbe says police investigated nine fatalities involving pedestrians in November 2013.
Some of the contributing factors in pedestrian collisions include rain, a lack of daylight, and drivers not paying attention behind the wheel, Stibbe said.
"It's essentially almost a perfect storm of circumstances that lead up to these collisions," he said.
There have been 23 pedestrian fatalities in the city so far this year, accounting for more than 66 per cent of traffic fatalities, Toronto police said earlier this week.
(680News, The Canadian Press)
Note to readers: This is a corrected story; A previous version said the woman was in her 60s and the truck fled the scene.
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.