NORTH SALT LAKE, Utah — Rylie Ward was crossing a North Salt Lake intersection on her way to school in September when the 11-year-old was struck by a car on what is a common route for a lot of children in the area.
“I expected to hear, ‘Yeah, she’s fine’ and maybe broke an arm or maybe broke a leg but she’s fine. And then my husband answered, ‘I don’t know,’ it sent me into panic mode,” said Rylie's mother, Jessica Ward.
Following the accident at Center Street near 350 East, Rylie needed surgery to relieve pressure and stop bleeding around her skull. In all, she spent nearly a month recovering in the hospital recovering.
“She’s 100 percent recovered but what I see as her mom is she still struggles with this and still struggles with that,” Ward added. “She still has head trauma to recover from and still has a sore leg which she might have for the rest of her life.”
North Salt Lake City Engineer Karyn Baxter says the intersection where Rylie was hit has been an ongoing concern for many people even before the accident.
“[The city] applied for a grant a year before to install sidewalks on the south side of the street, having identified this location as potentially dangerous for children," Baxter said.
Baxter explained why the intersection is a problem.
“What’s dangerous about this location is there’s currently a sidewalk on the north side of the street that extends down to the elementary school on the same side of the street through the signalized intersection," she explained. "There’s no sidewalk on the south side.”
The city has plans to make necessary changes to the intersection.
“[The] project will entail installing sidewalks so that [children] can come from the residential streets, walk down the sidewalk on the south side and then use the crosswalk with a crossing guard at the signalized intersection to go to the elementary school,” said Baxter.
Because of the September accident, North Salt Lake decided to expedite the project this year, with plans to have the light installed early this year and the sidewalks built over the summer.
As for Rylie, she’s back on her feet and thriving.
“We know that we’re lucky," her mother said, "but we also recognize not every family has the same outcome."
DRIVEN TO CHANGE
