Pedestrian Accidents Are Much More than Numbers

They say there is no greater pain in life than for a parent to lose a child. An Ohio family is currently struggling with that immense ache after losing a 9-year-old boy in a pedestrian accident.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that every single day in the U.S., more than 450 children are injured in motor vehicle accidents and 3 children age 14 and younger are killed in crashes. More than a fifth of those kids killed died in pedestrian accidents. It’s a tragic figure if ever there was one, and society owes it to its youngest members to figure out how to lower those numbers.

The family of the 9-year-old has filed a wrongful death claim against East Cleveland and the driver of the truck. The family argues in documents it filed in court that the 71-year-old driver was “inattentive” and “unlicensed,” and was behind the wheel of a “dilapidated service vehicle” with invalid license plates.

Unsurprisingly, the family notes that its members are enduring “severe mental anguish” as a result of the fatal pedestrian accident. The boy was reportedly chased into the street by children throwing pieces of asphalt at him and his sister.

The NHTSA also noted that the highest percentage (42 percent) of deaths among young pedestrians took place between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. The incident involving the 9-year-old happened at about 5:30 p.m.

All the statistics in the world are of no comfort to a family that loses a beloved member so young. Many in similar situations will think long and hard about ways to try to make sure no one else has to experience their grief. Some will conclude that a wrongful death claim will provide powerful disincentives to those who might employ untrained or unfit drivers or put unsafe vehicles on our streets.