Crosswalk needed to avoid tragedy, says mom
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When 14-year-old Kaitlin Anglehart left school last Friday, she was just hoping to run over to the community centre. Since there's no safe direct route, she did what many Agassiz students do on a daily basis. She crossed directly from the parking lot at Cheam Avenue, where there's no crosswalk.
Traffic seemed to have stopped for her, so off she went. But one car hadn't stopped. Not in time, anyway. The car hit her, the female driver got out, checked on Kaitlin, then drove away.
Now police are hoping to talk to the driver of an off-white, older sedan, says Sgt. Mike McCarthy.
And Anglehart's mother, Natasha, is starting a petition to have a crosswalk installed on Cheam Avenue, giving the kids a safe, quick route from their school to the businesses on Pioneer Avenue.
Anglehart got bruised up from traffic accident, her mom says.
"She's alright," she says. "Her knee's a little bruised, and one hand is bruised. But she hopped over the hood and got clipped by the bumper."
Anglehart says plenty of people saw the accident, since it was right when school was let out, and the parking lot was full of students, parents and faculty coming and going.
"Nobody got her license plate," she says. But they did get a description.
"She's thought to be in her early 20s, with longish black hair," McCarthy says. She could be facing charges of leaving the scene of an accident.
This accident comes just weeks after a crosswalk was added at Hwy. 9, enabling students to cross the highway in a safe manner where they normally would jaywalk.
The hope of many is to have a crosswalk installed quickly at Cheam Avenue. Anglehart is hoping her petition will speed up the process.
"I really feel they put that crosswalk in the wrong place," she says.
She also wonders why there aren't more school zone signs, to slow down drivers in the area.
McCarthy agrees that a crosswalk would be beneficial crossing Cheam Avenue.
"Even one accident that has a serious outcome is one too many," he says.
Anyone who has information about this incident is asked to call the Agassiz RCMP at 604-796-2211.
