LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Two toddlers were injured Monday morning in a crash involving a bicycle with a child carrier and a vehicle at an intersection in Lakewood, according to the Lakewood Fire Department.
It happened at Madison Avenue and Hilliard Road.
According to the Lakewood Fire Department, medics responded to the scene and found a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old who had been struck.
“He was crossing the road and this car came and it smacked him. He fell on the road, fell on the pavement,” said Aaron Whitney, who was nearby when the crash happened.
EMS transported the children to Fairview Hospital for treatment. Their conditions are unknown. The adult bicycle rider was not injured, nor was the person driving the other vehicle.
It's unclear if the vehicle involved stopped after the crash. We are waiting to hear more from the Lakewood Police Department.
The intersection was shut down while crews investigated.
The crash happened at the same spot where former Cleveland 19 reporter Bill Safos was struck and killed by a vehicle in December.
RELATED: Family wants answers, neighbors want change after pedestrian killed crossing Lakewood street
According to Lakewood Police, Safos was walking near the intersection of Madison Avenue and Orchard Grove, just a few dozen feet from Hilliard Road, on Dec. 11 when a "reckless" driver hit him.
The driver, in that case, was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide. His court date hasn't been set.
The crash resulted in a personal injury lawsuit that claimed the driver was going 47 mph in a 25 mph zone.
There is a memorial for Safos near Monday morning's crash.
Neighbors point to both incidents to support their concerns about safety near Hilliard Road and Madison Avenue.
“We have these crosswalks over here that are very confusing. And not just that, they’re hard to navigate, especially if you’re a younger kid,” said Whitney.
Victoria Rogers added, “We have Harding just down the street and there’s a lot of kids that go to school there. The hope is that they follow all the crosswalk rules and are very careful and cautious. But even sometimes with doing all that, it’s unpreventable.”
The pair was walking Rogers' 2-year-old daughter across the intersection to nearby Wagar Park Monday afternoon.
They said they've experienced their own close calls with vehicles while walking in the area and wondered if a change in speed limits might help improve safety.
“A lot of people, if you’re not from Lakewood, are not going to slow down through here to go 25. They’ll continue to go 35," said Rogers. "[With] so many different confusing crosswalks and stuff, there could be somebody crossing and just not paying attention. And 35 mph is dangerous.”
Neighbors and advocates have brought other safety improvement ideas to the city.
“Things like flex posts into the bike lanes, kind of narrowing the streets, center line hardening on the double line stripes there," said Bike Lakewood board member Josh Mottor. "You could put garden planters out to extend the pedestrian walkways a little bit into the spaces where it's not part of the driving lane."
In spring 2024, Lakewood adopted an Active Transportation Plan to improve street safety across the city. It included recommendations for higher visibility crosswalks, curb extensions or pedestrian refuge islands at the Hilliard/Madison intersection. It also recommended parking-protected bike lanes along Madison Avenue between Riverside Drive and Dowd Street.
No formal plans or funding have been announced. The Lakewood mayor and Ward 2 city council person did not respond to requests for comment on the intersection Monday.
Neighbors told News 5 that the incidents should highlight an urgent need for safety improvements.
“People recognize that this is a dangerous intersection. That’s pretty well-known and accepted. And it also seems to be something that people feel like nothing is being done so far,” said Mottor.
Whitney added, “We have kids, I have kids. And not just that, but I believe we could make Lakewood a bit of a safer place.”
