The Dangers of the Job

Another chilling reminder of the perils of the job hit home this week when a seasoned photojournalist was severely injured while working a crash scene.

According to CTV News, 65-year-old Dave Pettitt—a long-time camera operator with CKCO/CTV Kitchener—was hospitalized with serious, life-threatening injuries after a driver blew past a clearly marked road-closed barricade near Shakespeare, Ontario. Pettitt, who was wearing a safety vest and standing right beside the road-closed signs while filming a three-vehicle collision, suffered a head injury, facial fractures, a C1 neck fracture, a shattered elbow, and leg trauma. His condition has since stabilized.

Police confirmed that the motorist drove around flashing lights, orange pylons, and distinct road-closed signage. In a disturbing sign of just how brazen drivers have become, Ontario Provincial Police noted that a second driver even blew through a separate barricade at the same scene shortly after.

Tragically, this is not an isolated incident for the network. It marks the second time a CTV News Kitchener crew member has been struck by a vehicle while covering a closed-road scene, following a 2023 incident involving reporter Stephanie Villella.

Every news photographer and reporter steps out into traffic lanes, breakdown lanes, and active emergency perimeters knowing the risks. It is the inherent, quiet danger that all news photographers accept when stepping out at the scene—the gamble that motorists will respect the cones, obey the flashing lights, and pay attention to the law. Too often, drivers treat road closures like an inconvenience rather than a life-saving boundary, turning the shoulder of a highway into a high-stakes hazard zone for the crews trying to keep the public informed.

Our thoughts are with Dave, his family, and the entire CTV Kitchener newsroom as he recovers.