Barrie woman struck by vehicle while crossing street speaks out with message to drivers

A mother who was struck by a pickup truck while crossing the street in south Barrie last week is lucky to be alive and thankful to those who came to her aid.

Pallabi Roylee said she was hit by a blue pickup truck at the intersection of Veterans Drive and Mapleton Avenue last Wednesday just after 6 p.m. while on her way with her friend Dipa Boby Zaman to a nearby Tim Hortons.

“It was our right of way to cross the street. It was a beautiful evening, the weather was good,” Roylee explained from her Barrie home where she sat with her legs bandaged.

“We couldn’t make it completely halfway through, and at the corner of my eye, I could see that a car was coming pretty fast and for a second I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. This pickup truck is coming pretty fast.’ I couldn’t get - and my friend couldn’t get - any reaction time. Next thing I know … he hit us,” she said.

Pallabi said she was knocked unconscious from the excruciating pain and shock of the crash.

“I woke up inside the ambulance. I had no idea what happened. I don’t know how the ambulance has been called, who called,” she said. Pallabi described being saved by her friends and witnesses in the area who rushed to their aid in the moments following the crash.

“I’m so much thankful to you guys and thankful to the people who were witnesses and came forward and said to the police and authorities what happened,” she said.

Pallabi and Dipa were taken to hospital with back injuries, scrapes, cuts and bruises to their legs.

Pallabi Roylee sustained injuries after being struck while crossing a street in Barrie, Ont., on Wed., Oct. 30, 2024. (Supplied)

And Pallabi said the pain isn’t only physical.

“I’m having that flashback,” she said. “Even right at this moment that I’m talking to you that blue pickup truck is coming. It’s just right in front of my eyes. It’s coming.”

The women are now recovering at their respective homes.

Dipa, Pallabi said, has been dealing with a high fever and injured back for nearly a week since the crash. Pallabi said her injuries have kept her off her feet and away from work.

The blue pickup truck remained on scene. Barrie police say charges have yet to be laid.

She said she’s thankful it was all recorded on surveillance video from a home nearby and witnesses reported to police what they’d seen.

“You can see how fast that car was making the left. There was no way he could see us because he was not looking. There is no way he was looking,” she said. Pallabi still coming to terms with how and why the crash happened.

“How can we go to the street and just safely, when you have the right of way, safely, you know you are doing everything right and still you are not safe?” she questioned.

She believes a guardian angel was looking out for them and saved their lives.

“That’s why it was not my time to go. An angel was watching over us. I got hit by a pickup truck and I’m still alive.”

Pallabi wants drivers to slow down and take that extra time to check their surroundings. She believes one wrong move could very cost someone their life.