The residents who live along Fourth St. E. believes changes need to be made, to prevent other children from being hit. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Public safety

‘This shouldn’t happen to anyone’s child’: mother calls for changes, after daughter struck by truck

Nov 6, 2020 | 5:14 PM

A Prince Albert woman, whose teenage daughter was hit by a truck Thursday afternoon, just moments after stepping off the school bus, believes the collision could have been easily prevented if the school bus driver was allowed to deploy a stop arm.

The 14-year-old girl was struck at the corner of Eighth Ave. E and Fourth Street. A number of bystanders rushed to the rescue until paramedics arrived at the scene.

Helsey Whitehead explained to paNOW it was initially believed her daughter suffered a serious head injury. Fortunately the CT scan at the hospital did not find anything serious, and the girl was discharged the same day.

“I’m so happy that she’s here with us right now,” Whitehead said. “God was watching out for her.”

The young girl was unresponsive when bystanders arrived at the scene. (NIgel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

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While she may be home resting, Whitehead said her daughter has back and neck pain as well as a number of bruises on her head. The young girl also has some emotional injuries, she said.

“My daughter is traumatized right now. She doesn’t want to go to school,” Whitehead said.

Moving forward Whitehead said would like to see a bylaw which prohibits the use of school bus stop arms revisited. She also encouraged drivers to slow down.

“This shouldn’t happen to anyone’s child,” she said.

Response from the school division

Robert Bratvold, the director of education for the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division, told paNOW the cause of the collision remains part of the ongoing police investigation.

“Our first concern was caring for the student and the family and making sure we could do whatever we could to support them,” he said.

Support has also been provided for the bus driver, who Bratvold explained was also very distraught, and immediately called 9-1-1 when the event happened, as well as doing his or her best to keep the remaining kids on the bus calm.

“Clearly it’s not being addressed and residents want to be heard” _{– Ward 3 candidate Tony Head}

In response to any internal changes, Bratvold explained school bus routes are reviewed each year, but added the school division does not do door-to-door service, and the children are dropped off at collection points.

“So there really isn’t a possibility to make sure that there is no child crossing the street because it’s a collection of three or four or six kids at a spot. Some might be on that side of the street and others may live three or four blocks away,” he said.

In terms of the school bus stop arms, Bratvold said it is a city bylaw and explained there has been no discussion about it since the last time it was brought up before city council, roughly seven years ago. The proposed change to rescind Bylaw No. 54 of 1983 was ultimately defeated due to a concern the flashing arms could slow traffic.

In May 2013, Cynthia Mamer and Lori Stevenson led the charge to petition council to end the school bus stop arm ban. (file photo/paNOW Staff)

Response from the election candidates

Ward 3 Incumbent Evert Botha told paNOW he is well aware of the speeding issues on Fourth Street East, and said he asked administration twice to do something about it in the form of traffic enforcement or other traffic calming measures.

“We even had a petition from residents asking that something be done but we keep hearing that the traffic counts and the speed counts don’t justify it,” he said.

During a July city council meeting, city administrators brought forward a report outlining costs for speed monitoring devices. The devices were approved during 2020 budget deliberations at a cost of $40,000. Administration recommended the locations of the signs be determined based on problem areas identified by city data and residents’ complaints. If re-elected, Botha said he would make the speed issues on Fourth Street a priority.

“Ultimately we don’t want to campaign on a single incident such as the one Thursday, as sad as it is, but the residents have been asking for a long time,” he said.

Lee Atkinson was a member of city council when the school bus stop arms were last discussed in 2013. He can also recall a time when there was an actual traffic light at the intersection. He said he cannot understand why the safety issues have not been given greater priority by administration.

“Slowing down traffic is a bit of an inconvenience for some, but the life of a child is probably more relevant,” Atkinson said. “During the day, an hour to an hour and a half is when the school buses are running, that’s it. So out of a 24-hour day is it that big of an inconvenience. I don’t think so.”

Tony Head is the third candidate in the Ward 3 election race and also relayed to paNOW repeated speed concerns he has heard from residents, not just on Fourth Street East, but all the midtown area, where there are long stretches without a stop sign or yield sign.

“We have a sign shop in town here. We can make yield signs to slow the traffic down. I don’t know what more needs to happen,” he said.

Head said it breaks his heart to hear what happened to the young girl on Thursday, and so he plans to push the issue if elected to represent the ward.

“Clearly it’s not being addressed and residents want to be heard,” he said.

—

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell