LUBBOCK, Texas — On Tuesday, Capt. Ray Mendoza with the Lubbock Police Department provided safety tips following a getting man hit by a pickup truck on Monday night.

Just before 9 p.m., LPD said 59-year-old Frank Sanchez was struck in his wheelchair by the truck at the 8800 block of University Avenue. He had been travelling on the right side of the right lane. He was transported to UMC where he later died.

According to LPD, they are investigating the crash. The department reports from January 1 to August 31, seven people have been killed after being hit by cars, along with two bicyclists.

Within the same time frame, two people have been seriously injured, according to LPD.

“Most of them happen at night and it includes somebody that’s walking in the lane of traffic, usually,” Mendoza said.

According to TX-DOT, there were more than 90 incidents of people getting hit by a car in Lubbock in 2018.

Of those, nine resulted in death and another nine resulted in serious injury.

“Either they’re not alert to what’s going on around them, they’re not watching out for car traffic and in other instances, they were wearing very dark clothing,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza suggests avoiding walking at night, and he also said people should always try to use a sidewalk. When there isn’t one available, he said to use the left side of the street, facing traffic.

“If you’re going to be walking out at night, make sure you’re wearing something that’s highly visible, anything that’s going to attract attention,” Mendoza said.

TX-DOT also suggests people walking across the street should make eye contact with drivers before crossing the street. He suggests avoiding distractions like phones and removing ear buds.

Drivers should be careful and slow down when passing buses or stopped cars, and yield the right of way to pedestrians when turning, according to TX-DOT.

Mendoza said there are not many instances of pedestrian crashes in the area Sanchez was hit. He said the city is trying to do what it can do avoid pedestrian accidents.

“We put up those different signal lights like on university, where Tech is,” Mendoza said. “Along avenue Q, there’s one there. So we’re trying to do everything we can to limit those kinds of accidents.”

TX-DOT reports in 2018, more than 5,600 pedestrian involved crashes occurred, and 630 of those resulted in death.