If you were Downtown this morning, you could not have missed the unusual sight:
School Board member Scott Zeidman pushing his 9-year-old son Jason, traveling in a newly acquired wheelchair, down Culver Boulevard, first to the Fire Dept., and then around the corner, onto Duquesne, to the Police Dept.
In person, the Zeidmans wanted to thank the paramedics and police officers for responding so swiftly a at 7:40 on Tuesday morning on Farragut Drive when Jason was struck by a car as he crossed the street for school.
He suffered a concussion, a broken left fibula and left tibia, a blackened right eye, and he required stitches.
Jason is not sure how soon he will be able to return to his fourth-grade classes, which he misses, and he is not eating as heartily as he did before the accident.
As for Memory
Exactly what happened will have to be told by people other than the young victim.
“I remember getting out of the car,” Jason said, “but I don’t remember anything after that.
He is expected to be in his leg cast for six weeks, and his return date to school may be learned on Monday when Jason’s father meets with an orthopaedic surgeon.
“We live in a fantastic community,” said the ever upbeat Mr. Zeidman. “We have been overwhelmed by emails, phone calls and gifts of balloons and enough candy, cakes, cookies and brownies to send me back to the hospital for more diabetic treatment.”
Jason was in a crosswalk when he was struck in the temple by a passing car’s sideview mirror and hurled a few feet.
A Community Speaks Out
The incident triggered a batch of emails to city and School District officials, calling for stronger safety measures to be implemented and enforced.
One woman wrote:
“More Stop signs and more crossing guards are the minimum needed to get this situation under control.
“If having parent volunteers is considered a liability, then the School District and the police must provide another alternative to keep our children safe.
“Let’s push for action before another similar or worse accident occurs. Since Mr. Zeidman is on the School Board, the silver lining is that our children may now have a passionate advocate and protector on this important issue.”
Another parent said:
“As a Lindberg Park resident whose children walk to the Middle School, I agree that the congestion is less at Ocean. However, far too many people drop their child safely, then tear out of the neighborhood, screeching turns onto Virginia from Westwood to zoom up to the light at Overland. We parents are the problem with the dropoffs, regardless of where we safely deposit our own.
“It is the drivers who are at fault, not the children. It should be considered that from the 6th grade onward, our children can walk three or four blocks safely. Drop kids off farther away. Don’t drive into the school zone. And on the rare rainy days, let them get wet.”
Another parent made the following suggestion:
“We have always dropped our Middle Schooler off at the bridge on Ocean Avenue. We wait until there is an opening on the curb, pull our car in and let her out on the passenger side. When we see that she is safely walking away from the car, we pull out. Unless I am missing something, I would suggest that if you can, it is probably safest to drop your child off on Ocean Avenue.”
“Not all accidents are preventable,” Mr. Zeidman said this morning. “But if we can minimize the number of accidents, that would be great.
“We all have to be more careful. There are so many vehicles around school in the morning and in the afternoon.
“It would be nice if all of us could get together and find a way to make things safer.
“As part of my job as a member of the School Board, I will be looking into ways for dealing with the city. I would like to see if we could work on the traffic flow, lower the speed limit, do something to make conditions even safer.”