After a Stoneleigh Elementary School student was hit by a vehicle this week, residents renewed calls for speed bumps and cameras to be added to Regester Avenue to force drivers to slow down.
Officers responded to the intersection of Regester and Kenleigh Avenues where they found a 10-year-old boy who had been hit while crossing the street. A preliminary investigation determined that a 2014 Ford Fusion struck the boy while traveling westbound and was not speeding at the time of the crash, Baltimore County Police said Friday.
The child was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver remained at the scene, and the police crash team continues to investigate.
Ongoing community concerns have resulted in an increased BCPD presence in the area and a speed camera will be relocated to that school zone next week.
One of the parents, Dylan Hayden, said members of his neighborhoodโs Facebook group have complained about the speeding for years. Theyโve called for speed bumps and cameras to be added to force drivers to slow down.
A radar speed sign now sits on Regester, but parents say that itโs brand new. โI donโt think the problem with how fast people go through a neighborhood can be solved in our lifetime,โ Matthew Bartholme, another Stoneleigh Elementary parent, said.
He added that if people donโt care about speed cameras, thereโs not much else that will stop them from driving fast. A speeding ticket is as common as getting a bill, he said.
One parent who didnโt want to be identified said her son was at the scene of the accident. The student who was hit was his friend and a group of them walk home from school together every day.
โIt was pretty dramatic and traumatic to get a call from my kid telling me what happened,โ she said. โI rushed to the scene and tried to help as much as I could.โ
On Friday afternoon, the mom was waiting for her son to be dismissed so she and her dog could join him on the walk back. This time, theyโd be taking a different route. One with a traffic light that should make crossing the street feel safer.
Maria Jigoulova, another parent, said with the taxes they pay, their kids should be โsafe on the street.โ And the problem isnโt just with Regester, she said, but also the intersecting Sherwood Road.
Drivers speed on that street as well, she said, and her neighbor has been writing letters to the county about it. The responses theyโve received so far have been unsatisfying, she said.
What Jigoulova and her neighbors want are more speed cameras. โWhy do we have to wait until something bad happens?โ she asked.
Stoneleigh principal Heather Hollenbeck asked parents to take the opportunity to remind children about important pedestrian safety tips, such as crossing at crosswalks and looking both ways before crossing a street or in front of a bus.
โI want you to be assured that the safety of our students is our top priority,โ Hollenbeck wrote in a message to parents about the incident.



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