KEARNS, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Two young children are fighting for their lives after they were hit by a car on the way home from school. The accident happened on 4715 South and 4180 West in Kearns.
For hours Tuesday afternoon a section of 4715 South was shut down as authorities processes the scene of a car accident. A seven year old girl and nine year old boy were hit by an SUV.
Authorities say the brother and sister were crossing 47th at about 3:30 in the afternoon. They had made it to the middle turn lane and were waiting for traffic to clear. A car in the inside left lane stopped for the children so they began to cross. Unfortunately a Dodge Durango in the outer right lane didn’t see the kids and hit them.
Lory Acosta heard the accident and was first on scene. She says, “The little girl had blood all over her face and the boy was all scratched up.” Acosta says when she heard the accident, she knew right away something was terribly wrong. She says through tears, “You just heard tire screeches and that’s it and everybody was just running. I thought something bad had happened, I thought it was a motorcycle, I thought a man was hit and I came out and it was two little kids.”
Both kids suffered serious injuries. Their parents were on scene as they were flown to the hospital by medical helicopters. Residents say this is the fist accident on 47th that involved a child, but they see the dangers kids face everyday. Acosta says, “I see kids all the time crossing this, right here, just right here, I see them all the time,”
Acosta says she wants to see more safety measures in place to prevent an accident like this from ever happening again, “It is very busy. I mean this is 47th, this street is constantly busy. I think they tried to do something about it with the light down there but that’s still a long distance not to have a crosswalk or anything.”
ABC 4 is taking action to find if there should be, or will be, any additional safety measures put in place on this section of 4715 South. We’ve called Salt Lake County, and the local community council. When we get answers, we’ll bring them to you.
