Three Fairfax County public school students were involved in accidents involving vehicles on Wednesday, and one was killed, Superintendent Michelle Reid wrote in a message to families.
The three students were involved in separate accidents while riding a bicycle or a scooter, Reid wrote. The child who was killed was a middle school student, she said.
“My heart is with the student’s family, friends, classmates, teachers, and the entire school community as we confront this heartbreaking loss,” Reid wrote.
Fairfax County police and Fairfax City police confirmed the three incidents, which occurred just a few weeks after the school year began in the Northern Virginia county. Police did not identify the three students.
On Wednesday at about 2:30 p.m., Fairfax City police responded to a crash involving a 13-year-old and a large truck. Police said preliminary information indicates the large truck was leaving a shopping center when it struck the teen, who was riding a bicycle.
The student sustained life-threatening injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The truck driver was located nearby, police said.
Earlier that day, at about 8:18 a.m., Fairfax County police responded to a minor crash in Chantilly involving an 11-year-old girl riding an e-scooter, police said. A vehicle turning into a school parking lot made minimal contact with the student’s scooter while she was in the crosswalk, police said. “The student was able to jump off the scooter and was not struck by the vehicle,” police said. She was not injured.
Later, at 3:20 p.m., Fairfax County police responded to a crash in Annandale involving a vehicle and a 13-year-old riding a bicycle. The student sustained minor injuries and was transported to a local hospital. Police said that crash did not occur near a school or school crossing.
In her message, Reid urged community members, and especially drivers, to be safe on roads.
“Whether we are behind the wheel, walking, biking, riding a scooter, waiting for a bus, or simply moving through a busy school parking lot, each of us has an important role to play in keeping our community safe,” Reid wrote.
In July, a 9-year-old boy was killed in the Herndon area of Fairfax County while riding an e-scooter after crashing into a minivan, police said. One day later, a 5-year-old boy on an e-scooter was seriously injured in a hit-and-run in Southeast Washington, D.C. police said.
As e-scooters and electric bikes become more popular, doctors and researchers say they’ve seen a severe increase in injuries related to the vehicles, including among children, in recent years.
Earlier this month, the District Department of Transportation released proposed amendments to Washington’s shared mobility regulations, an agency spokesperson said.
Rental e-scooters are currently capped at 10 mph in the city for safety reasons, according to DDOT. But among the proposed changes is a provision that would require shared scooters to have speed limiters that ensure they will not travel over 15 mph on the street and 10 mph on the sidewalk, the spokesperson said.
The proposed update, which would not extend to e-bikes, is currently open for a public comment period, the spokesperson said.
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