Traffic stopped briefly at the stoplight in downtown Kanab on Saturday, Jun 3, as a 10-year-old from Hurricane, Utah, was struck by a sedan turning northward as he crossed the crosswalk on an electric scooter. Police and medical responded, moving the accidental victim to a nearby parking lot for assistance, but other than a few scrapes, the young man was unharmed and denied a hospital visit - a decision his parents agreed with when they were called and informed of the situation.
The light was green for the turning sedan, and the walk signal was on for the pedestrian as he crossed - according to Police Chief Tom Cram, “when it comes to those electric scooters, this sort of thing is bound to happen eventually. When you’re flying down the sidewalk on one of those things, you’re going much faster than most people are expecting you to go - the lady driving the car could have looked both ways, and the scooter made it to the crosswalk before she even realized. Everyone was following their appropriate traffic signals and it just came as a surprise. Luckily everyone was moving at a moderate speed so nothing bad happened. The kid refused medical transport, he didn’t have much more than a few scrapes on his elbows and knees.”
The Kanab Police Department urged caution and safety when it comes to this sort of electric transportation - more than one tragedy has been averted recently due to a scooter or bike rider wearing a helmet, even for short trips. Safety officials also strongly recommend the use of designated crosswalks across roads, especially busy roads like Center Street/Highway 89, citing that many of the more serious incidents involving scooters and bikes occur when a rider crosses the road casually at a randomly chosen spot. Riders are encouraged to always be aware of what is behind them - a statistically significant number of these incidents occur when a scooter or bike rider crosses in front of an approaching vehicle moving in the same direction as them along the road.
