CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Parents are frustrated and fed up over what they say is a dangerous walk to school. On Thursday morning, a child was seriously injured after being hit by a vehicle near Ballantyne Elementary School.
Parents say they’ve expressed safety concerns about traffic to school leaders in the past. Now, they’re pushing for new traffic signals or a crossing guard.
NBC Charlotte talked to a mom who lives just a couple blocks away from the school, and she walks her child there every day. However, she says she’s now considering stopping.
Like clockwork, you’ll find Carly Light on the same path every school day. However, she says what she saw happen there on Thursday, unfortunately, was also predictable.
“Sadly, we’ve been kind of waiting for something like this to happen,” says Light.
A child was transported with serious injuries after being hit by a vehicle near Ballantyne Elementary School. “The paramedics, an ambulance, and his dad there,” says Light.
Light says parents have raised safety concerns with school leaders in the past.
“It’s really frustrating because we have brought it to the school’s attention that we don’t have a crosswalk for us walkers or a crossing guard,” says Light.
On Thursday, NBC Charlotte found a group of parents circulating a petition to bring safety changes, including a crosswalk.
“I signed the petition for the safety of the kids, at the end of the day we’re here for the children,” says one father.
“It’s always been an issue because we don’t have a cross walk,” says a mother.
“Now, with all the construction going on around our school, it’s made it even more dangerous,” says Light.
NBC Charlotte reached out to the North Carolina Department of Transportation to see how a cross walk or traffic signal would be added. A spokesperson says that a study would be required which wouldn’t happen until fall in order to get accurate traffic counts at the school.
NBC Charlotte also reached out to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, but they did not respond with a comment on the issue.
Light says she is considering changing her daily routine.
“My husband wants me to be a driver parent because this happened, and I don’t want to drive because it’s so close to my house,” says Light.
However, Light says moving forward she will consider driving if no traffic safety features around the school are added.