HONOLULU -- Pedestrian safety advocates are urging both drivers and pedestrians to pay attention and avoid taking risks.

The plea came after a 46-year-old man was critically injured on the Pali Highway. Police said the man darted between vehicles before a car hit him at the intersection of the Pali Highway and Vineyard Boulevard just after 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Although the man survived, the state Transportation Department said nine people have died in pedestrian accidents in the first three months of this year. That compares to 16 fatalities all of last year.

“It’s staggering. It’s absolutely staggering,” said Walk Wise Hawaii’s Dianne Ward. She became involved in the organization when a car hit her brother two years ago. “Went across the street to get a haircut and was hit. He remains in a coma to this day. It’s been 2 ½ years and I miss him terribly,” Ward said.

Ward believes safety is the responsibility of both drivers and pedestrians. “Some of the pedestrians do believe that they’re invincible, and we’re not. We’re no contest to a car,” Ward said. “So many times they’re on the cell phone or they’re looking straight ahead and they just assume that if they’re in a crosswalk, they’re going to stop.”

Ward said her brother was in a crosswalk when a car hit him. “Someone went around the car that stopped for my brother. The only thing he didn’t do right, was he should have looked to see if someone was coming in that lane,” she said.

Ward is urging pedestrians to use crosswalks and she urges drivers to pay attention and give the right of way to pedestrians who are in crosswalks. “It’s a crosswalk. It’s the law. We really need to stop,” she said. “I truly believe in my heart of hearts that pedestrians take chances because people don’t stop for them.”

In recent years the highest number of pedestrian fatalities came in 2005, when 36 people were killed.