Reply to The death of Allie Hart and the need for safer streets

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Does anyone know what actually happened?

It seems like the dad shouldn't have let a small child bike across the crosswalk alone.  But is that what happened?[/quote]

The driver hit the child in a crosswalk and killed her. That's what happened.[/quote]

Did she dart out on her bike or was she watching for traffic?  Where was the dad?  The the truck stop at the stop sign?  [/quote]

She was five. There are no circumstances where it's acceptable for a five-year-old to be killed by a driver. Instead of asking whom to blame, please ask how to prevent this from happening to others. What can we do to make streets that are safe for five-year-olds?

[/quote]

I’m asking because [b]I am trying to figure out how we best protect our kids[/b].  If that means walking beside them while they are on their bike in a crosswalk then that is what it takes.  I’m not sure why putting your head in the sand about this seems to be so important to you.  Do you lock your doors?  If so, then you understand that while we all want safe homes, we know that sometimes we have to take precautions based on where we live.  [/quote]

How does one individual person, in their daily life, best protect their kids? By raising them in an urban place where you can primarily get around by walking, biking, or transit.
If that one individual person isn't doing that, what should they do? Try to be eternally vigilant, and hope random misfortune doesn't strike them.
How do WE best protect our kids? By insisting that our elected representatives support and fund policies that will actually make streets safe for five-year-olds.
[/quote]

Nobody is saying there isn’t change needed.  But understanding what happened helps people know what they can do, in that moment, to protect their child can help another family.  Sorry you don’t seem to care about that. [/quote]

Well, let's see. Zyaire was holding his mother's hand in a crosswalk. Allie was riding in a crosswalk with her father. Haekal was waiting at a school bus stop with his father and baby brother. 2 girls were walking to school with their father on Walk to School Day (they weren't killed). So you tell me.

We all like to think that if something bad happened to somebody, it's because they did something wrong, and we'll be safe as long as we don't do anything wrong. Unfortunately, it's not true.[/quote]

I'm not trying to assign blame.  I am asking what happened to Allie, which still hasn't been answered.  If you don't know, that's fine.  [/quote]

What happened to Allie is that she was a five-year-old riding her bicycle in a marked crosswalk, and someone driving a van hit her and killed her. That's really all you need to know. Everything else is just trying to reassure yourself that this wouldn't happen to you or your children. [/quote]

As clearly stated in DC’s pedestrian traffic regulations, “Pedestrians may cross the roadway within a marked or unmarked crosswalk. However, no pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb, safety platform, safety zone, loading platform or other designated place of safety and walk or turn into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impossible for the driver to yield.”

So if Allie did indeed dart out in front of the car, then yes, there is more we need to know. It’s just not as simple as you want it to be. [/quote]

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