Police and a city councilman on Charlotte's east side say something needs to change after another pedestrian was hit by a car Friday morning.

The unidentified man was trying to cross Albemarle Road where it splits off onto Central Avenue when he was hit.  Paramedics took him to the hospital with what they described as life-threatening injuries.

The driver told Eyewitness News that he was trying to get over onto Central Avenue and never saw the man standing near the median.

"I don't even know how I hit him. I just heard the noise.  I had no idea someone would be standing there almost in the middle of the road," Reynaldo Rubio, 20, said.

Rubio told his story to police, but they have not decided whether he will be charged in the accident. But it's something police have seen too many times on Charlotte's busy east side.

"It's just frustrating -- we seem to see the same mistakes made over and over again," said Sgt. Mike Hervey of CMPD's Eastway Division.

"People aren't looking for pedestrians mid-block.  We'd hope people cross at the intersections," Hervey said.

The accident is at least the sixth involving pedestrians along Albemarle and Central this year, and City Councilman John Autry, who represents the east side, said something needs to be done.

"It's very concerning that people are getting hurt trying to cross these streets," Autry said.

"We really have to alert the public that there are places where it's safer to cross the street than right here on a highway like we have with Albemarle Road."