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A little girl is recovering after an SUV narrowly missed her while scootering across a California zebra crossing with her parent and sibling just steps away.
The incident occurred on Sept. 14 in San Mateo, California, just south of San Francisco, when a father and his two children were crossing a street at a designated pedestrian crossing. ABC 7 reported.
Dashcam video of the incident shows the little girl just inches from a large SUV going through an intersection and then driving away.
The driver of the vehicle with the dashcam, Jison Hong, had stopped in front of the flashing lights indicating pedestrians are trying to cross.
The little girl was riding her scooter as she came out in front of her father, who appeared to be checking for cars coming into the street.
The father, who was pulling a cart, can be seen in Hong’s vehicle when the little girl leaps in front of him and is nearly hit.
A second child also rode behind the father on a scooter, but fortunately was not injured.
Hong spoke to KGO in the California Bay Area about what it was like to watch the scary experience unfold in real time.
Video captured by Jison Hong’s dashcam shows the scary moments when an SUV shoots through an intersection in San Mateo and nearly hits a small child crossing the street
“If it had been, you know, a few seconds later, she could have been seriously injured,” Hong described. “Yet my heart pounds every time I think back to that moment a little bit.”
Fortunately, the girl was not seriously injured in the incident.
Her father spoke to KGO and told the news channel that she is doing well but that the family is still shaken up.
Law enforcement officers told ABC 7 reporters that the car eventually returned and the driver spoke to officers about the incident.
The driver’s name and any charges filed against them have not yet been released.
Jison Hong, whose dashcam video captured the San Mateo incident, says the little girl could have been seriously injured if she had been on a scooter seconds earlier
The problem is not new to local residents who say they have been working for years to make their streets and pedestrian crossings safer.
“We’ve written emails, we’ve spoken at city council meetings,” said resident and nearby HOA chairman Max Partl. “I think this video has finally sparked some real action.”
Police told the local news station that they have responded by adding additional traffic patrol vehicles in the area.
News of the terrifying incident came less than a week after another Bay Area city was hit by a similar incident that ended in tragedy.
on September 17 in nearby San Joseeight-year-old Jacob Villanueva was beaten and killed while walking to school.
Jacob Villenueva who was recently murdered while walking to school in San Jose, California
Jacob was walking with his babysitter when a car turned the corner and hit the couple.
Both individuals were rushed to hospital and the eight-year-old later died.
“He was very friendly and the other little kids loved him,” said one person who remembered the child at a memorial service.
Jacob’s death prompted further investigation with officers from the San Jose Police Department.
The law enforcement agency invited a Bay Area reporter to see how they used offices as decoys on a particularly problematic crosswalk where drivers repeatedly ignore the flashing lights telling them to stop.
“In the first five minutes we’ve been here, officers have handed out at least ten quotes,” said Steven Aponte of the San Jose Police Department. told ABC 7’s Dustin Dorsey.