A TEENAGE girl is critically ill in hospital after becoming the fifth young person in just 24 hours to be involved in a serious road accident in Birmingham.
The 17-year-old casualty suffered severe head and pelvic injuries in the collision in College Road, in Kingstanding, at 8.20am yesterday.
A bus driver who witnessed the crash said she ran out in front of his parked bus, and watched horrified after a collision with an overtaking car flung her ‘feet’ into the air.
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Now ambulance crews have made a desperate appeal in the Birmingham Mail calling on parents, drivers and children to take care on the roads following the spate of serious incidents involving youngsters, who have only just returned to school after the summer holidays.
In the last week alone, there have been seven – including one fatality, and five in just one horrific 24-hour period. The in-to-city carriageway of College Road was closed for around four hours yesterday as paramedics treated the youngster and police began to examine the scene of the collision.
Motorists were diverted along Warren Farm Road, bringing rush-hour chaos to commuters. Bus driver Austin Woodlock, aged 64, watched the smash as he picked up passengers.
He said the girl was talking to friends at the bus stop where he was parked when she saw a bus coming the other way and ran to catch it.
“She had a bag with her and she looked like she was going to college,” he said. “She flew up in the air about two feet over the car. I thought she was dead at first but then she started to come round. Her sister came from around the corner. Then her parents came and they all went off in the ambulance. It was very upsetting. She was only a young girl.”
A silver Hyundai with a smashed-up windscreen and a dent on the passenger side was cordoned off by police tape. An onlooker said the driver was a woman in her 30s. A police spokesman said: “A 17-year-old female was involved in a collision with a car. The injuries were believed to be serious and she was taken to hospital.
“The road was closed into the city.” He said no-one had been arrested.
An ambulance spokesman said the teenager was taken to the Queen Elizabeth hospital, in Selly Oak.
“This incident is the fifth serious road traffic collision involving a child or young adult in the city during the past 24 hours,” he added. “As schools and colleges return for a new academic year, parents and children are being urged to take heed of key road safety messages, and drivers are also advised to exercise extreme caution in the vicinity of schools and colleges.”
It is the second time in a year that a young person has been seriously injured at that particular spot outside McDonald’s in College Road.
A 12-year-old boy also suffered serious head injuries after being knocked down by a Peugeot 308 as he crossed the road on Saturday, November 13.
In January, Oscott councillor Keith Linnecor revealed that council highway bosses were planning a new 30mph speed limit along the notorious stretch. Last night, a council spokesman said it would be implemented within the next few weeks.
The six serious road accidents involving children>>>
