News · Community · Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington student critically hurt after being struck by vehicle while walking to bus stop
A student in Lexington, Kentucky, suffered life-threatening injuries Tuesday morning after being struck by a vehicle while walking to a school bus stop, according to a WKYT/Gray News report carried by WCAX, WIS, 1011 Now and Alaska's News Source.
Lexington police responded at about 7:25 a.m. on Oct. 13 to a crash involving a student on Briar Hill Road, on the east side of the city, the report said. The student was taken to a hospital.
Miranda Scully, a spokesperson for Fayette County Public Schools, confirmed that the student was on the way to a bus stop when the collision happened, according to the report.
Police said the investigation remains open but that they do not anticipate filing criminal charges at this point, Gray News reported. Police later confirmed that the school bus's stop arm was not extended at the time the student was hit.
The outlets noted that this is the second incident this school year in central Kentucky in which a student was struck at a bus stop.
The crash comes a few months after a new state law, House Bill 7, took effect in July. The measure, co-sponsored by state Rep. Chad Aull, a Lexington Democrat, raises the fine for failing to stop for a school bus with its stop arm deployed to $300 for a first offense and $500 for later offenses, according to the report. It also permits school districts to install cameras to help identify drivers who violate the law.
Aull called the latest incident painful for those involved. "The fact that another kid, another family has to go through a situation like this, it's just tragic, it's so easily avoidable," he said, as quoted by Gray News.
Aull said he believes tougher penalties and greater public awareness can help prevent similar crashes, and he urged school districts across Kentucky to adopt the camera option allowed under the law, arguing that broad use would reduce traffic incidents around school buses, according to the report.
The student's name, age and current condition beyond the initial description of life-threatening injuries were not reported. Details about the driver and the vehicle involved were also not included in the coverage.
Compiled by True News from reporting by WCAX, WIS, 1011 Now and Alaska's News Source. Each outlet's original story is linked below.
Sources
- Student hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being hit on the way to a bus stop (WCAX)
- Student hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being hit on the way to a bus stop (WIS)
- Student hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being hit on the way to a bus stop (1011 Now)
- Student hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being hit on the way to a bus stop (Alaska's News Source)
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