A 76-year-old woman suffered serious injuries after she was struck by a pickup truck while walking through a crosswalk at the intersection of East Market Street and Second Street in Smithfield on Saturday morning. Emergency responders were dispatched to the scene just before 11:30 a.m., and the woman was later taken to Wake Medical Center for treatment.
According to ABC11, the woman was walking through the crosswalk from South Second Street to North Second Street when she was hit by a pickup truck driven by a 20-year-old. The Smithfield Police Department, the Smithfield Fire Department, and Johnston County EMS all responded after the report came in, and police say the crash remains under investigation, with charges still pending.
WakeMed Health & Hospitals in Raleigh runs an American College of Surgeons-verified Level I Trauma Center in Wake County. It remains unclear whether the sightlines at the intersection or a turning maneuver played a role in the collision.
What North Carolina Law Says About Crosswalks
North Carolina statute places a clear obligation on drivers approaching pedestrian crossings. Under North Carolina General Statute § 20-173(a), motor vehicle drivers must yield the right-of-way by slowing down or stopping for pedestrians crossing within a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection where traffic signals are absent or not operating, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. The same statute, under subsection (b), also bars drivers approaching from behind from overtaking and passing a vehicle that has already stopped at a crosswalk to let a pedestrian cross.
Those protections carry outsized weight in North Carolina because of how the state handles fault after a crash. North Carolina uses a strict pure contributory negligence rule, meaning an injured pedestrian can be barred from recovering any civil damages if they are found even slightly at fault for the collision, according to The Law Offices of John McCabe. That legal standard makes the outcome of the Smithfield Police Department's investigation especially consequential for the injured woman.
A Corridor Already Under Scrutiny
This is not the first serious pedestrian crash on Market Street in Smithfield. A pedestrian was fatally struck by a pickup truck at 851 West Market Street, according to JoCo Report. That earlier death has fed into a broader local push to redesign the corridor.
In March, the Smithfield Town Council voted to support an NCDOT Regional Traffic Safety proposal that would eliminate all on-street parking along Market Street between U.S. 301 and the Neuse River Bridge, specifically to improve highway and pedestrian safety, the same outlet reported. Market Street has become the focal point of town council discussions and NCDOT interventions aimed at reworking parking configurations and traffic flow along the corridor.
The Smithfield crash lands amid a broader rise in pedestrian injuries and deaths across North Carolina. Statewide traffic safety data published by NCDOT showed 281 pedestrian fatalities in 2024, a 12% increase from 2023, accounting for 11% of all pedestrians involved in motor vehicle crashes, according to Connect NCDOT.
For now, the Smithfield Police Department's investigation into Saturday's crash remains open, and no charges have been filed.
