A crash on Dow Drive in Copper Cliff on Aug. 2 sent a boy to hospital with serious injuries.
The incident happened at around 5:35 p.m. Monday when police said the boy, age eight, was riding a scooter when he “entered the roadway and was struck by a vehicle.”
The child was transported to Health Sciences North by Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, GSPS reported this morning.
The crash occurred in the West Side Village Townhomes complex, a resident told Sudbury.com, in an area where many families with young children live.
A.J. Pokonzie told Sudbury.com parents of the complex have been concerned for years about the rate of speed vehicles use when travelling through the townhouse development.
He was one of the first people on the scene of Monday's incident. He said the boy who was struck is a friend of one of his children. Pokonzie, who was one of the people who phoned 911, said he grabbed a towel from his home to wrap around the boy's bleeding abdomen. He didn't see the incident, but said his daughter did, and told him the boy was run over by both tires on the vehicle that struck him, causing a laceration and road rash.
Pokonzie said he and many of neighbours want to see signage installed, including a lower speed limit and warnings for drivers of children in the area, to slow drivers down. Traffic infrastructure like speed bumps would also be helpful, he said. The problem isn't limited to passenger vehicles either, Pokonzie said, but also to city buses, which he said often drive too quickly for his comfort through the neighbourhood.
While there have been no similar pedestrian accidents as far as Pokonzie knows, he said speeding is a big problem in the neighbourhood and one that has him, and other parents, frightened for their children's safety.
"Speeding is our main. You can only police children so much," he said.
The traffic management unit is investigating. No charges have been laid at this time.
