Just recently a 16 year old Wake County student was driving when they struck a pedestrian crossing the road in a crosswalk at Athens Dive High school. The walking student was seriously injured from the hit inside the crosswalk area. According to the police report filed in Raleigh, North Carolina (N.C.), another student from Athens Drive High was driving what was described as a red Jeep when the incident occurred.
Raleigh police state the Jeep was traveling about 35 mph in a 25 mph zone when it struck the Athens Drive High student attempting to traverse the crosswalk. The victim was a freshman at the high school and apparently is a daughter of an employee at the school. The pedestrian crosswalk accident victim suffered a broken leg and serious injuries to the face.
The student who was driving the Jeep was later charged with speeding and failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. The local news station WRAL reported on this accident and noticed that most cars and other vehicles do not slow down as they pass through the area and frequently ignore the crosswalk and seem to disregard pedestrians waiting on the sides of the road. Although the school has a security guard on staff, it has been shown that they do not have a full time or even part-time cross walk guard attending to pedestrian safety.
According to North Carolina statutes any of the following conditions warrant a crosswalk:
- Those locations adjacent to and along established pedestrian routes to and from a school.
- Locations adjacent to community centers, libraries, and other high use public facilities.
- Locations adjacent to public parks.
- Locations where accident records, sight obstructions and/or pedestrian volume. warrants the installation.
- Locations where significant numbers of handicapped or senior citizens cross a street.
- Location is part of the local adopted pedestrian plan.
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