KEY POINTS:
An artist was working on a series of street murals about pedestrian safety on Ponsonby Rd yesterday when a man was struck by a bus only metres away.
Marc Spijkerbosch has been commissioned by the Auckland City Council to draw artwork on five spots around the city to illustrate how dangerous the streets could be.
He was completing one on the corner of Ponsonby Rd and Angelsea St when he looked up to see a man had been struck by a Link bus at about 7.30am.
"I was writing 'don't step into danger' when he was hit. It was only about 25 or 30 metres away from me."
The injured man was last night in a stable condition in Auckland City Hospital.
The accident brought home how important the safety campaign was, Spijkerbosch said.
"It really moved me. It just made it seem all the more real. Since I have been doing these [murals] I have seen three close calls of pedestrians shooting out across the road. They don't realise how fast the cars are going."
Each of his murals has a hard fact about pedestrian accidents in Auckland written underneath.
While he thought it was eerie he had been writing a safety message when an accident occurred, he hoped people would notice the drawings.
"If one person is saved out of all this then it will be worth it," he said.
NZ Bus northern general manager Warren Fowler said the pedestrian walked on to the road and the company was helping police with their inquiries.
"The driver acted quickly and called control who immediately alerted the police and ambulance services," Mr Fowler said.
