Mother of Child Hurt on Bike in Virginia Beach Warns of Speeders

As a Virginia Beach personal injury lawyer I am always pleased to read investigations on local news channels that may result in improved safety for children.

Recently WAVY 10 On Your Side reported on the actions of a mother who wants to see safety improvements on Forest Glen Road, near Garfield Avenue in Virginia Beach after her son was hit while riding his bike.

Ashley Knaub contacted the TV station because her six-year-old son spent most of the summer with a knee brace and crutches, after he was hit by a car.

“We’re just lucky that it was a small knee sprain, and he’s recovering just fine,” Knaub said.

The child was hit by a car while he was on his bicycle on Forest Glen Road, WAVY reported. The accident took place two weeks ago in front of his grandmother’s house. That’s the house where Knaub grew up.

She said, over the years she has witnessed several car wrecks and speeders ignoring the stop sign there. Now, her son has been hit.

“I would like to see things change in this neighborhood. It’s been ongoing,” Knaub said.

She has called for more stop signs, a lower speed limit, a speed bump, sidewalks — something to protect the neighborhood children from traffic. Sadly many streets in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Chesapeake are not pedestrian friendly and children often pay the price.

Virginia Beach Police Department said it appeared the child was crossing the street when he was hit by a car.

Research by WAVY uncovered information from Virginia Beach traffic engineers that suggested there have been only three traffic-related incidents near the Forest Glen Road/Garfield Avenue block over the last five years.

“In this situation, it was just three different scattered locations with accidents happening, and we didn’t find any pattern of crashes,” Mike Shahsiah, Senior Traffic Engineer said. “This is the first call we had concerning speeding in that section of the roadway.”

Our personal injury lawyers are always concerned about accidents involving children regardless of how many accidents have occurred in a particular location.

In Virginia children can be injured in many types of accident including car accidents, school bus accidents, daycare accidents and dog bites. Often another party may be held liable. Even common events like slip and fall accidents can lead to serious complications. Any kind of incident is capable of leaving a child with significant injuries including broken bones, head trauma ranging from concussions to more severe traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), internal injuries and possible infections to wounds and psychological aftereffects. Any such injury can entail very significant medical expenses and long-term rehabilitation costs.

If your child has been hurt in an accident, call Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers at 757.455.0077 for a free consultation.