A recent accident involving a young boy in a crosswalk at the intersection of Lewis Avenue and 24th Street West is highlighting the risks pedestrians face every day in Billings.
The incident sparked a conversation, where residents frequently share stories of close calls and near misses. Jamie Rindahl launched the Billings Reckless Drivers Facebook group in 2011 to address the issue.
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"We've had a lot of crazy drivers on our road, and I had called out to our city officials to get help," Rindahl said Saturday.
The Facebook group sees 10 to 15 new posts every day calling out reckless driving. Rindahl noted that vehicles are heavy and dangerous.
"They're at least a ton or 4,000 pounds," Rindahl said. "They're just a speeding bullet and you can really wreck somebody's life."
Rindahl said she frequently sees posts about children trying to cross the street while drivers are not paying attention. She expressed frustration over what she perceives as a lack of traffic enforcement.
"There's just not a lot here for traffic police, I guess," Rindahl said.
Billings Police Chief Rich St. John said drivers must stay alert, noting that people are often not paying attention when a child gets in a crosswalk.
"We have near misses with our crossing guards," St. John said in a press conference.
St. John said his officers enforce traffic in school zones and write tickets.
"You would think that we don't spend any time in school zones enforcing traffic and that's not the case," St. John said. "Our officers are there. We write tickets. You know, our presence is a deterrence. Can't be everywhere all the time, but when you see your, those comments it's like, where, where are the cops? Well, we're there and we do, we do take enforcement action," St. John said.
This isn't the first time someone has been hit in a crosswalk. Rindahl recalled a previous incident involving a mother and child.
"We had a woman with her stroller right up here off of Wicks that got hit with her child in the stroller. This was a couple years ago," Rindahl said.
Rindahl said she sees cars drive by buses and is shocked more people are not getting hurt.
"Some of these cars just drive by the buses and I'm shocked we don't have more people getting hurt. So, yeah, it's definitely an issue," Rindahl said. "Do your diligence. Make sure you look both ways."
