GRANTSVILLE, Utah — A resident is pleading for change after a teenager was hit by a car while she was crossing the street, leaving her in critical condition.
A 14-year-old girl was taken by medical helicopter to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City after being hit by a passenger car while she was running across the street Main Street near Willow Street in Grantsville around 5:40 p.m. Sunday.
“There was a car inside of the turning lane, and as they were coming past the car in the turning lane, she had darted out in front of the vehicle and they just didn’t see her,” Grantsville Police Detective Cody Painter described.
Neighbors in the area told Fox 13 that this isn’t the first time they have seen a child get hit in the crosswalk.
“They speed through here,” Timothy Madsen said as he stood across the street from his house.
“It’s family friendly, but the roads not,” Madsen said.
His house is one of many that line the sides of Main Street in Grantsville.
“I live right across the street. The crosswalk goes right into my yard right there,” Madsen pointed to the crosswalk where the accident happened.
Madsen and his family have lived there for years.
“I told my kids... ‘I bet another kid got hit in the crosswalk,’ and I was right, that is exactly what happened,” he said.
When he got a call telling him an accident had happened in front of their home, he wasn’t surprised.
“This is the fifth kid that I know of that’s gotten hit right here in the last ten years,” Madsen said.
“A lot of people don’t like having a 35 mile per hour speed limit because they think it’s slow, but this is why,” Painter said.
With an elementary school off of Willow Street, police said the crosswalk is frequently used by kids, and while other crosswalks on Main Street are marked with lights, this one is not.
“I would like to see them get some lights on this,” Madsen said. “It wouldn’t totally take care of the problem, but it would help people know that somebody is crossing right then.”
Timothy and his wife are considering writing a letter to the Utah Department of Transportation in the hopes of getting lights installed at the crosswalk.
As for the 14-year-old, police said they intend to call every hour to get an update on her condition.
