'I instantly knew I'd been hit'

RECOVERY: Avon Carter, 73, who is on crutches after being hit by a car while crossing a pedestrian crossing in Masterton.

Avon Carter knew he was in trouble when he was bowled by a car while crossing a pedestrian crossing on May 12.

"I ended up in the gutter and instantly knew I'd been hit."

The retired 73-year-old has lived in Masterton most of his life and loves to walk the streets, but on this occasion he wishes he hadn't been.

He was hit at the crossing near the Faulknors Service Station in Lansdowne.

The first lane of traffic stopped for him and he crossed to the halfway island, then on the Mawley Park side of the pedestrian crossing the first lane of traffic stopped for him.

But not the second lane of traffic.

"I just heard a bang."

"The world went upside down because of course I was spinning in the air."

Mr Carter remembers lying near the gutter beside Mawley Park with the woman who had hit him telling him not to move and that she had called an ambulance.

"At first I thought this doesn't seem too bad."

"I wiggled my fingers, arms and neck and it all seemed fine."

When the ambulance arrived Mr Carter realised he was seriously hurt.

"They asked if it hurt here, or here ... and then they got to my hips ... oh my God."

Mr Carter ended up with a fractured right pelvis, fractured left ankle, fractured left rib and a chipped front tooth.

He spent nine days in hospital and has a long six to eight weeks of recovery ahead of him but says it could have been worse.

"It could have taken me out ... I feel very blessed to still be here, talking to you on this sunny day."

Mr Carter said the mistake he made was looking straight ahead instead of looking at the traffic.

He says it's a common mistake that most people make.

"They [pedestrian crossings] are there for safety but don't get lulled into a false sense of security."

TAKE CARE: The crossing between Faulkners Service Station and Mawley Park where Mr Carter was hit by a car.