Another pedestrian accident on EMR [update 2]

By John McDaid | Thursday, 6 March 2008

Thanks to a reader who passed along sad news of yet another accident on East Main Road in Portsmouth.

A pedestrian was struck by a car about 4 p.m. today on East Main Road at Patriots Drive, near Portsmouth High School.
— via ProJo 7-to-7 News Blog

h/t to anonymous. thanks for passing this along.

Update:
A source passed along this e-mail that went out from Principal Robert Littlefield to parents on the PHS listserv:

I wanted to alert everyone in our community of an incident that happened near campus this afternoon.

A tenth grade student was crossing East Main Road in a crosswalk at the bottom of Patriot Drive when she was struck by a motor vehicle.

While the young woman was taken to Hasbro Hospital, she suffered no broken bones and never lost consciousness. She is being held at Hasbro as a precaution and is expected to make full recovery.

We should all emphasize to our students that extreme caution should always be used when crossing East Main Road. That means crossing only at designated areas, looking both ways and moving only when traffic is clear.

h/t to anonymous.

Update 2
The Providence Journal has the story.

Tags: 
Localblogging, 02871

Comments

English

Fri, 03/07/2008 - 6:20am

We received an email from the school that says the student is not seriously injured. As of last night, the student was at Hasbro for observation - no broken bones, no loss of consciousness.

John McDaid

Fri, 03/07/2008 - 7:00am

Hi, English...
Thanks so much for passing this along. That is a huge relief. Our thoughts are with the family and friends, and we hope for a speedy recovery.

Best,
-j

olive

Fri, 03/07/2008 - 10:45am

As a parent of 3 teenagers, stories like this of course make us nervous. We wonder about the logic of the current speed limit in the area, as PHS students (and others) frequently run across the road to the only area close enough to the high school to serve food. After school activities can keep students at the school long past school hours. And they do get hungry.

Obviously, being in a crosswalk does not do much to avoid getting hit. A teenager might think they have protection because in Newport it does make a difference. BUT they do not work where the speed limit is higher and people are not looking out for pedestrians. Its the speed of the cars plus how well the pedestrian LOOKS and judges how much time they have to cross that makes the difference.

On a lighter note, my son (who is a Sophomore) half-jokingly said they should put up a yellow sign to "watch out for crossing Sophomores."

John McDaid

Fri, 03/07/2008 - 10:58am

Hi, olive...
Thanks for your comment. As a parent, these stories make my stomach churn. And at 35 mph, which is the speed limit at that spot, there is not a lot of thought to actually looking out and stopping for pedestrians.

You know, a school project to create signs might not be a bad idea. It would certainly raise the visibility.

Cheers.
-j