BILLINGS — Billings parents are demanding action after a seventh grader was struck by a vehicle while heading to school and critically injured this week, reigniting concerns about student safety along Grand Avenue.
Watch parents talk about the concerns:
Every morning, students navigate heavy traffic just to get to class at Will James Middle School. The nearby intersection at Grand Avenue and Rehberg Lane is among the busiest, and families say it has become increasingly dangerous during school rush hour.
For Chelse Ridout, the news of this week's crash hit close to home. Her son typically walks the same route with a group of students.
"I don't know all the group of kids that he walks with, but I know the one that he didn't walk with was the one hit yesterday," Ridout said Friday.
Ridout said her son Slade was hit by a car at another intersection in March.
"He was hit by somebody that wasn't paying attention. She was on her phone," Ridout said.
Slade was not seriously hurt, but Ridout said another family may not be so lucky next time. She pointed to a gap in safety resources between elementary and middle school students — while younger children often have crossing guards, older students are left to cross busy roads on their own.
"Anybody that's driving by in the morning sees the cross walking guards everywhere. We don't have that for the older kids," Ridout said.
Ridout said she hopes school and city leaders take a harder look at the issue.
"I'm hoping that the schools take this more seriously because I mean, this all started last year when one kid got hit and then it was weekly that kids were getting hit," Ridout said.
The concern runs even deeper for Tarah Clubb. Her brother was killed by a driver when he was just 16.
"He was actually hit by a vehicle. He was just walking on a street, but yeah, it was a traumatizing situation," Clubb said.
Now, as her own son prepares to bike to school along Grand Avenue, Clubb said that history weighs on her.
"That's always in the back of my mind because of what happened to my brother. And so knowing that that's the exact path that he'll take next year if he rides his bike across Grand, it's just concerning," Clubb said.
Parents describe Grand Avenue as too wide, too busy, and too dangerous during school hours.
"It just makes me nervous. So I try to avoid it, but it should have been done a long time ago," Clubb said.
Families are now pushing for solutions — including flashing lights, pedestrian crossing signs, and more crossing guards — before another child is hurt.
"Hopefully they'll add something, a cross guard, flashing lights, pedestrian crossing signs, something like that," Clubb said.
"If we keep going on the path that we're going, we're going to have a lot more accidents," Ridout said.
