The City of Penticton, B.C., will be adding safety measures to an intersection after a child was hit by a car while crossing last week.
On Monday, June 12, a 14-year-old girl was on the way to school and was nearly halfway across the crosswalk at the intersection of Duncan Avenue East and Columbia Street, when a vehicle driving up Duncan struck the child and sent her flying over the hood.
“Terrible. She was able to tell someone waiting, a different driver, our home number and he said your daughter’s been hit at the intersection you need to come right away,” said the victim’s mom Nicole.
Global News is not using Nicole’s last name to protect the identity of her daughter.
“There’s a video from the corner store showing her stop near the crosswalk, look, wait for the bus to pass through, look again and push her scooter through the crosswalk.”
The intersection, Nicole says, has become increasingly dangerous, given an influx of new homes and development further up the hill.
She went on to say that many families have also expressed concerns over increased traffic in the area and speeding. And with Columbia Elementary School nearby, many students use the crosswalk every day.
“It has been a problem for many, many, many, many years,” said Nicole. “It’s so frustrating that it takes a tragedy for anything to be done about a school intersection.”
According to City of Penticton engineer, Jonathan Chu, at the time of the incident, there were no planned changes however the city actively monitors the area to see where additional improvements can be made.
On Friday, the city confirmed it will now be adding more safety measures to the intersection.
“Back in 2017 there were some traffic-calming measures done to that intersection as part of the development up at the Ridge and then we got into a monitoring phase,” said Chu.
“We do realize that speed is still an issue, especially along that Lawrence Avenue corridor so we are looking at some traffic-calming measures there as well so that’s all in addition to the new four-way stop that we will be putting in at Columbia and Duncan.”
Meanwhile, Nicole’s daughter suffered a broken arm, severe bruising, and injuries to her leg and her left side.
The driver of the vehicle reportedly remained on scene and was cooperating with police at the time.
RCMP believe speed and intoxication were not a factor in the accident, and the driver was issued a ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian.
“It’s so maddening, that someone like my daughter can do everything right, pause, wait, look, use a crosswalk, and still someone not paying attention, distracted driving, likely unaware, not stopping at a crosswalk can hit a child,” said Nicole.
“Then my daughter gets taken away in an ambulance and she gets to drive away from the scene, unharmed.”
The city expects the safety upgrades to be in place within the next couple of months.
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