PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT LEAVES 14-YEAR-OLD VA. GIRL SERIOUSLY INJURED

Family members of a 14-year-old girl in Petersburg, Virginia, report that she was crossing the street to her bus stop when a motor vehicle struck her. Though she sustained no broken bones, family members describe serious injuries requiring hospitalization, including a collapsed lung and a “brain bleed.” The accident occurred on a recent Thursday morning on Crater Road, a busy four-lane street with a concrete divider in the middle. Residents of the neighborhood describe it as a dangerous spot for pedestrians.

An investigation into the crash is still ongoing, but authorities report that the driver who struck the girl was not at fault and did not run a red light. He remained on the scene and cooperated with law enforcement. A statement from the Petersburg City Public Schools expresses sympathy for the girl and her family as well as a commitment to review the situation with an eye toward preventing future accidents.

The statement went on to say that the school division’s bus stops comply with applicable codes and regulations. The Virginia Administrative Code for Student Transportation states that buses must discharge and pick up students on the same side of the road where they live on a highway divided by a physical barrier, as Crater Road is.

The seriousness of the victim’s injuries required transportation to a hospital in the Richmond area. The victim’s family asserts that she is only one of many high school students who must cross the busy street to get to their bus stop and that the family has requested a change of its location since the beginning of the school year.

If the public school division’s statement is accurate and no bus stops require students to cross lanes of traffic, it is unclear how the accident occurred and why the student was crossing the street. It is sometimes difficult to determine fault in an accident such as this, but pedestrians injured in a motor vehicle accident may wish to speak with an attorney.