It’s a hot Texas afternoon and students are winding down their day and getting ready to head home. Unfortunately on this Friday afternoon, the unexpected occurred as a 14-year-old freshman was injured by a car on Day Miar Road on his way to Rush Creek Church from Lake Ridge. The boy injured was airlifted to Cook Children’s Hospital and is recovering while the driver, who has respectfully chosen not to be interviewed, is still processing the incident.   

The accident occurred after school and left many students, such as Ayanna Hill, junior, shocked as to what had happened. With the accident transpiring ever-so recently, many Eagles, such as Hill, are still left unclear of the details on what had happened on that day. 

“I felt really bad for the person who was hit and I wanted to know more information about what happened and how it happened. We were at band in Waco when I heard about the crash and I just heard people talking about it so I didn’t know anything about it really,” Hill said. 

Although Hill only learned of the incident through rumors and from other students, others such as Madeleine Bush, junior, were left out from knowing about the incident entirely. Even though Bush only found out recently about the accident, she believes that the school should implement more safety precautions, not only for the student drivers but the pedestrians as well.

“I’m kind of surprised but I knew that would happen at some point. I definitely feel a little unsafe because I know there’s a lot of kids that walk across that street, so they definitely should have some sort of school zone that’s a lot less than 45 miles,” Bush stated. 

On Thursday September 12th city crews did in fact take down the 45 mph speed zone sign, and replace it with a 20 mph school zone sign. However with students such as Hill and Bush left puzzled to figure out the details on what happened that day, others who have heard about the accident, such as Kyah Branch, sophomore, are using what happened to improve their own driving actions around the school. 

“I can be sure to check my surroundings and making sure that if there is somebody walking, slow down, making sure they cross the street. It’s more about making sure that I’m good even if they don’t check for themselves. Even if they do get hit, I’m still liable if I hit them,” Branch said. 

Although experienced drivers have taken precautions such as slowing down or being more observant whenever pedestrians are around, others such as Amanda Mitchell, AP Government teacher, believe that pedestrians can also play their own part in being safe around drivers. 

“Take the headphones out. I’m personally a runner myself and you know that’s one of the things that they say, ‘If you’ve got your headphones in, at least leave one in one ear and one out so that you’re aware of your surroundings.’ You’re going to have accidents everywhere. You just don’t ever want to be the one that’s on either side of the accident, and if you do, put your phone down when you’re driving. Don’t text and drive,” Mitchell stated. 

While all students at Lake Ridge are processing what happened that day, many students, such as Bush and Branch, are taking what happened to improve their own driving safety. Although the accident had impacted those involved, many students driving to and from school will keep this in the back of their mind for years to come.