DC hit by a van today, will the police do anything?

[GloomyWednesday]

This morning my beautiful 18 year old DC was ploughed into whilst halfway across a zebra crossing.

They're in hospital after suffering a skull fracture and very lucky there's no other major injury.

The incident was witnessed and caught on various dash cams. Witnesses say he was going fast and didn't slow down although stopped afterwards. The driver of the van had massive damage to his vehicle but, as far as I know, hasn't been arrested.

We haven't heard anything from the police since taking details early this morning so AIBU to ask what happens next?

Well I’ve had a call from the road traffic police. Massive apologies to me and DC as the officers on the scene fucked up in a big way.

Apparently, they should’ve got the RPU officers straight away and they didn’t pass on the information to them afterwards either. The sergeant I spoke to was pissed off that this had happened and sent his colleague over to the hospital within an hour of the call to see DC.

The original police officers hadn’t reported that DC had injuries, let alone been take to the big trauma centre!
We’ve been given contact details of the officers and told to speak to them any time we need to and they’ll be seeing us again soon.

I feel like every other word of this post is ‘officers’ 😂

Why are some police so useless? Can they not be bothered with the paperwork or something? Sending you courage OP. Keep on fighting for justice.

Well done for being on it.

I would make a complaint to the police. Otherwise nothing will change.

The driver absolutely deserves a punishment. I'm in horror reading about other incidents on this thread where there's been NFA. Why not?!

The first witness on the scene who looked after DC has been amazing.
She collated a list of witnesses (with dash cams too!) whilst simultaneously giving first aid to my beautiful kid.

When I turned up at the scene about 8 minutes after it happened it was all chaos and really scary but DC was surrounded by some wonderful women who’d stopped to help - pedestrians and drivers and teachers from the school next door. It made me even more emotional to think about these women being a ‘mother’ to DC and the pragmatic compassion they showed.

Well done OP.
Unbelievable how poor some police are.
Absolutely no criticism whatsoever of your son OP, but his story and others are why I am blue in the face telling my kids to not make a move onto the actual road until they clearly see cars slowing down to stop.
The green man means nothing.
Every day I see multiple cars breaking red lights etc.
My children raise their eyes to heaven at me, even as adults now, that I am still saying "watch the road".
Thank god he survived, so many don't.
My son was knocked down years ago, his fault, but the shock stayed with us for so long.
Mind yourself.

On a zebra crossing. Yes they will do something.

I know someone who was hit by a car on a zebra crossing when he was a kid.

He was injured, the driver was prosecuted and he got compensation for injuries from the drivers insurance.

One other course of action is to go via a solicitor (check your home insurance) and get in touch with their insurance company. Not only will it report the incident to them (irrespective of whether the police do anything), but you can make a compensation claim for the injuries. This is especially important if there are long term injuries or rehab that is needed (for example getting by swifter private physio etc).

horrid thing to happen. Zebra crossings are awful, the number of cars at our school crossing that don’t stop, speed up or have to break hard is ridiculous. Hope you’re son recovers swiftly

I’ve always been the same. Told the kids that they can’t trust drivers to see them or act responsibly.

Made them hold my hand crossing roads when little, never pushed a pram first into the road whilst waiting to cross etc.

Seems DC did everything ‘right’ and was actually halfway across the crossing (going left to right) as the van hit on the left and was coming down the road 🙁

They even takes their headphones off and won’t look at their phone etc when crossing the road as I’ve drilled it into them and they’re a sensible kid

(I’m using DC to try and retain some anonymity instead of DD/DS)

Funnily enough one of my sons mentioned recently how he saw a man ahead of him crossing the road narrowly missed being hit by a driver clearly ignoring the red light.
It is terrifying and I really believe it has gotten so much worse since Covid.
They will watch him carefully for 24 hours with concussion.
My 10 year old was told absolutely no contact sport or play for a full 8 weeks after he was concussed.

But was he arrested for failing to stop at the scene if an accident and/or careless or dangerous driving?

Hope dc has a speedy recovery.

Nice to read there are some good people that stopped to help. The person that gave first aid and took details of all the witness sounds amazing - it seems she did a better job than the police that were on scene.

Glad you spoke to them and they have now realised how serious the injuries were.

Reading some of the comments here I am astounded that the police aren't prosecuting these drivers.

I hope your DC recovers quickly from this and I'm pleased that you have witnesses to the accident so that it can be taken seriously.

terruble they messes up so badly what if iy was worse

OP, regardless of the police investigation, report the accident to the driver's insurance company asap and lodge a pre-emptive claim. You WILL have a claim to make in due course for damages, costs you incur etc. The police/prosecution side of things is only part of the whole story.

I was very nearly hit on a zebra crossing and the driver swerved and hit another car. They were done for careless driving. Actually hitting a person is bound to be prosecuted.

You don't know the facts so you cannot say whether it was harsh or not...

Police are onto it now. Dash cam footage taken from the van driver as well as witnesses and CPS involvement.

DC in hospital still and has facial palsy, hearing loss, concussion and pain but healing well

Glad the Police are on to it!

Wishing your DC a speedy full recovery

Glad the police are taking it seriously. Hope your DC makes a full recovery.

This is a good point. The driver should have told them of the accident but may not have, and probably won't have all the details for your son. If no one was able to get their details at the time, maybe speak to the police to see if they can get them/report the incident to them ( don't know how it works when you haven't got your own insurance company to notify).

Hooe your dc recovers well. As a parent this type of thing is my worst nightmare. Thank goodness for good people

What a shock for you, I hope your dc isn't badly injured and is recovering well and will have no long term effects from her injury. I agree you should put a claim in on her behalf now.

I agree and councils only use them as it’s more expensive to install the on demand crossings