Oak Park Newspaper

May 21, 2010

A car speeds through the crosswalk for the last time?
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo
4 Year Old Child Hit by Car in Crosswalk

On his way to school this morning with his 6 year old Brother, who is a first grader at Horace Mann elementary School, the 4 year old boy was struck by a car.

Neighbors report the car stopped immediatly while the mother and brother of the victim ran to the child. He was flat on the ground. Neighbors have told us that the young boy appeared to be conscious, but that they weren't sure.

Adults and children witnessed this accident and told us that the driver of the car stopped and tried to help. Oak Park Police and an Oak Park Ambulance arrived in a short time. The 4 year old boy was taken to Saint Ignatius Loyola hospital and examined for internal injuries.

The first calls to us were frightening and complex, bad news and the probability only getting worse for more bad news, by the tone of it.

Neighbors informed us that cars on Division routinely fail to yield to pedestrians in the marked crosswalk. The residents have had meetings with the Village and with no success. If you watch the video below it is a shame that it took a child perhaps sacrificing his life to get something done.

The report is now in that the young man has been released to his family from the hospital. The driver must have slowed down prior to his making contact with the child. It is a miracle that the young man is still alive and even more so that he is home and well. It will be a good weekend for all of the neighbors and
his family in Oak Park. It is great news to have luck this good.

This is crosswall that no one paid any attention to,
and one that was not even painted well to make it
more visible.
© Suburban Journals of Chicago Inc. photo

There is no official word as to whether or not the sign will remain as a permanent stop, but it would be hard to image its being removed in the future. The video above clearly shows the need for a stop sign.

Hopefully the Village will remove this concrete and install some sod so that people will not cross into the street with nowhere to go. These things should have been done before.