State worker fair after being hit by elderly driver

State Journal staff report Published:

An employee with the Kentucky Department of Revenue who was struck by a car driving in the wrong direction on High Street Friday is in fair condition at a Lexington hospital with leg injuries, according to police and hospital officials.

Carla Briscoe, 45, was hit by a 2001 Ford Focus driven by 94-year-old Virginia Robinson around 9:50 a.m. Friday as Briscoe crossed High Street at a crosswalk to the State Office Building, Frankfort police say.

Briscoe suffered injuries to her left leg and foot, Maj. Fred Deaton said. She was taken to Frankfort Regional Medical Center and later to the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital.

Robinson, the mother of Franklin County Magistrate Jill Robinson, told officers she became confused at the intersection of Holmes, High and Mero streets and turned on High Street, which is a one-way street, Deaton said.

Robinson realized she was driving the wrong way before hitting Briscoe, who did not look in Robinson’s direction before crossing High Street, Deaton said.

Briscoe, manager of the Minerals Taxation and GIS Services Branch of the revenue department, works at the State Office Building, according to an online state directory.

Comments

Signed in as

By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service. Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed. The State Journal doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.

Want to leave your comments?

Sign in or Register to comment.

  • Many others who work in the State Office Building and I have almost been hit at that crosswalk as well, even Frankfort Police treat it as if there is no law regarding yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk. It is very dangerous and neither the state nor the city will do anything about it, so you can forget any addition of wrong-way signage on Mero. Nothing will be done until someone dies, apparently the cost of a life is what it takes to get any notice to a dangerous situation. When requests are made to the Frankfort Police Department to increase monitoring of this area especially during rush hours goes ignored or no police presence is there except for the cruisers that also fly through the crosswalk ignoring pedestrians as they nearly strike them.

  • Let me clarify something here. This woman did NOT just turn the wrong way down High Street at the three-directional corner ... she turned onto Mero Street at the Mero/Wilkinson corner! We watched her from the Transportation Cabinet as she drove the wrong way with cars honking at her and then turned right onto High and hit the pedestrian. While seeing people drive the wrong way on Mero is not something new to those of us working the upper floors at KYTC. Seeing that woman hit was a horrible shock. We believe there needs to be better "wrong way do not enter" signage at EACH block that empties onto Mero ... several of which, Ms Robinson passed and could have turned onto or turned around at.

  • Steve_Fry

    I failed a driving test by turning the wrong way onto a one-way street. That was the last time I ever did that! The cop was nice and let me finish the test, but told me right off that was an automatic fail. Oh well, live and learn. :o)

  • Anonymous_161. I've almost turned onto a one-way street a couple of times, but I've actually not driven down any. And yes, I did stop, backed up a little, and went a different direction. There was plenty of room to turn around on High Street. But the lady IS 94, so I give her some leeway regarding the confusion. My grandfather had a fender bender in his early 90's. It wasn't even his fault, but he gave up the keys that day. He said "people in their 90's shouldn't be driving.". I think he may have had something there.

  • Most of us at one time or another have turned onto a one way street. It is an easy mistake to make especially if you are not familiar with the area. To the poster below # 890, I asked what one is to do when you turn onto a one way street? Try to back up? What if there is no drive or street to turn around? When I have done this before, luckily there was no traffic coming and I was able to get to the end of the block and turn onto another street. I suspect that is what this lady was trying to do. I agree with you on your 2nd point. We should always look both ways even on one way streets.

  • "Robinson realized she was driving the wrong way before hitting Briscoe, who did not look in Robinson’s direction before crossing High Street, Deaton said. " It's sometimes easy to get confused, but if she realized she was driving the wrong way, but kept doing it, it's time to take the keys away. Lesson to Briscoe and everyone: Always look BOTH ways before crossing any street.