5 Richland students hit by drivers in 3 years. School district working on safety

Richland school and city officials are considering an awareness campaign after a student was hit crossing Spengler Street after school.

Chief Joseph Middle School student Trinity Enriquez was fifth Richland student hit by a driver in the past three years.

Richland Superintendent Shelley Redinger told the school board last week that district officials will be meeting with the city.

“Just awareness both for students and for the people driving to just be paying attention,” she said, though details of what that effort could include were not discussed.

Trinity, 11, remained unconscious last week in intensive care in a Spokane hospital after being hit by a pickup while she was trying to cross a street behind a school bus on Oct. 22.

Her school bus driver had turned off the bus warning signs and had driven away before she tried crossing, said school and police officials. The bus driver did not see the accident.

Trinity’s mother posted on Facebook that doctors are hopeful that she will make a full recovery. A GoFundMe, organized by her aunt, Zayna Kinsey, has raised more than $16,000.

Within two weeks in 2019, a young bicyclist was hit by a driver at the intersection of Jadwin Avenue and Catskill Street, and then a 12-year-old girl was seriously hurt in a parking lot driveway on Lee Boulevard near Carmichael Middle School.

The year before, two brothers were hit walking home from a basketball game at Chief Joseph Middle School.

Now, Trinity’s accident has reinvigorated concerns about the safety of kids walking home from school.

“I’m interested in what the district plans to make changes so Friday’s incident on Spangler and Hood Avenue doesn’t happen again?” one woman asked the Richland School Board. “The child was hit after getting off the bus at a bus stop where there is no crosswalk.”

Neighbor concerns

Casie Douglas is another concerned parent after her daughter was nearly hit at the same time as Trinity.

The two girls are close friends and were on their way to ask permission to go to a nearby park, Douglas told the Herald.

She pointed out that the students aren’t dropped off at the nearby crosswalk, and is worried that the bus didn’t stay long enough for the girls to pass in front of it.

She worries it could happen again if something doesn’t change.

Richland police said in a news release that the initial investigation showed that the pickup driver had stopped when the bus warning lights were flashing. He was not cited.

5 students, 4 crashes

Redinger told the school board she was concerned about the number of students who had been hit by vehicles, particularly students from Chief Joseph Middle School.

The district has been actively trying to ensure students get home safely, Richard Krasner, the district’s executive director of operations said during a recent board meeting.

Months after the two brothers were hit in 2018, the city of Richland installed flashing crosswalk lights. The plan for the lights had been in place before the children were hit, and was helped by the Richland School District.

Krasner said the district talks with Richland and West Richland officials at the beginning of each year about changes that would improve safety, including new roads or changes to roads, traffic lights or speed limit changes.

That also includes telling the cities about school start and release times so the timing of flashing warning lights can be adjusted.

“Throughout the school year, if a concern comes in from a staff member or a community member, whether it’s a request for an additional sidewalk here or there, or they think speed limit signs need to be added or changed, the district and the city work together to assess and problem solve,” said Krasner.

But all final decisions come from the city, he said.

Past examples included working with the city when George Washington Way was being repaved and adding rapid flashing crosswalk lights near White Bluffs Elementary school in south Richland.

“I’m working with the city on a couple of areas around our elementary schools right now,” he said.

The district and the city are working on making changes around Orchard Elementary on Gala Way in south Richland because of the increased traffic around that school. They are looking at where students cross the street.

They are moving a crossing to Jordan Lane and away from the traffic of parents picking up and dropping off their kids.

“We’re going to add speed limit signs, and we’re looking at possibly more flashing beacons,” he said.

They are also putting in a sidewalk near the Chief Joseph Middle School tennis courts, making it complaint with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Board member Kari Williams initially asked for the update after seeing a child nearly hit going to school.

“This is so important,” she said. “It just seems like prevention is the best thing we can do for our babies in regards to getting them to school safely.”

This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM.