7-year-old on bike hit by truck

WILLIAMSBURG — A 7-year-old on a bicycle sustained serious injuries when he was hit by a truck at the intersection of Rodger’s Drive and Kenton Way in Williamsburg Nov. 12.

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The accident prompted residents to ask the Williamsburg City Council for additional stop-signs at the T intersection.

Nate Ristow’s voice broke Monday as he described running from his house after hearing the accident in which his son was injured. The 7-year-old was lying in the intersection with blood on his chin, Ristow said. He couldn’t focus to answer his father’s questions.

“I thought I might watch my son die,” Ristow said.

The boy suffered a brain bleed, a severe concussion and injuries to his pelvis. He will be in a neck brace for six weeks, Ristow said. “Victor still hasn’t returned to school.”

“We see drivers multiple times a day … going over the speed limit,” said Ristow. He encourages his children to play outside — and did so the day of the accident. His 10-year-old son was the only witness, he said.

“Apparently it’s more important that a 7-year-old ran a stop sign” than that a 25-year-old ran into him with a truck, Ristow said.

The new subdivision south of Interstate 80 and north of Williamsburg proper is full of children, Bowen Yoder told the Williamsburg City Council Monday.

There are six houses with little kids out there, said Yoder. “They’re kids. They forget to stop sometimes.”

Yoder asked that the council put in stop signs to slow traffic, “because they fly down that hill.” A vehicle can hit 30 miles an hour coasting down it, he said.

“It’s probably the steepest hill in town,” admitted City Manager Aaron Sandersfeld.

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A three-way stop might be a good way to stop speeding out there, Sandersfeld said.

People can run stop signs, said Councilman Tyler Marshall. He wondered if speed bumps would better serve the neighborhood.

Marshall also suggested the city put a speed sign there to record the speed of traffic in the area. “A handful of speeding tickets would do wonders.”

Police Chief Justin Parsons first addressed the subject during a previous city council meeting. Councilman Dale Walter said he drove out to look at the intersection and agrees that something is needed there.

“I think a stop sign is a good option out there,” said Parsons. He initially questioned the tolerance the community would have for stop signs at every block, but when a couple of people from that community show up at a city council meeting, they obviously want it, Parsons said.

“No, we don’t want to throw stop signs on every corner,” said Marshall, but when the city has a problem area, it has to address it.

“I’m sorry we had to find out the hard way,” said Marshall.

According to the police report filed about the incident, 26-year-old Kyle Michael O’Neill was driving a 2006 GMC Sierra southbound on Kenton Way about 1:30 p.m.

O’Neill saw a young boy in a child’s Batmobile car moving toward the street from the east side of the road and reduced his speed to about 15 miles an hour, O’Neill told police.

As O’Neill passed the driveway he looked forward just as he struck a child on a bicycle, the police report says.

The child’s brother told police that children were riding their bicycles eastbound in the left lane of Rogers Drive. The brother saw O’Neill and yelled at his brother, who was in front of him, to stop, but the boy didn’t hear him, ran the stop sign at Rogers way and was struck by the vehicle.

The council will vote during its next meeting, Monday, Dec. 11, whether or not to erect stop signs at the intersection.