Parents Pleading For Safer Streets After Dozens Of Car-Pedestrian Crashes Near Schools
CITRUS HEIGHTS (CBS13) — Dozens of car-pedestrian accidents are being reported near three schools in Citrus Heights, some involving students. Now parents are pleading to the school district for safer streets.
Once school is out at Sylvan Middle School, parents say that time screams "traffic danger."
It was a normal day on Monday for 8th grader Jordan Smith. He goes to Sylvan Middle School he was walking through a crosswalk on his way to school.
He said, "We pressed the light and we waited for the thing to say, "walk" and as we were walking, there was this car down there."
The car hit Jordan who fell over in the middle of the street.
"He just rolled down the window and said, 'Oh my God, I'm so sorry and drove off,'" Jordan said.
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"That was my fear when they told me he was hit, "what would I do without my son?" said his mom, Lizzie Smith. "The school called me and they said Jordan was hit by a car."
Jordan suffered minor injuries, but he and his mom say could've been worse.
"It all finally caught up with me that it could've been something really bad that could've happened," Jordan said.
"Is that what it's going to take? Somebody getting hit and killed before they actually take this seriously," Lizzie Smith said.
The crash isn't being called a hit and run because the driver stopped. Citrus Heights police say they're still investigating.
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There have been 64 police calls about traffic collisions to the area since last January and 15 injury accidents, meaning crashes, total at both intersections.
Parents say this is a pattern in the area.
A neighbor caught a close call involving a student on Carriage Drive on her home surveillance video.
"There are no yield-to-pedestrian signs, sometimes these crosswalks are broken so kids are just darting across the street when they think it's their turn," Lizzie Smith said.
Around the middle school, there are no speed limit signs and no crossing guards. Neighbors say drivers tend to ignore speed bumps.
Parents say a lot of the kids jaywalk through busy traffic to get to the restaurants across the street from the school.
The school district says they don't provide crossing guards but hope to increase the number of staff monitoring students near traffic. District leaders say they can't control the flow of traffic. Adding that the roads and intersections are the responsibility of the county and city.
CBS13 was told the city is undergoing a traffic study to learn more about how to make this area safer.
