Bicyclist Hit by Vehicle Near Blach School

A vehicle collided with a young bicyclist at 7:52 a.m. Friday near Georgina P. Blach Intermediate School. The boy, whose age and name were not disclosed, walked away from the collision, said Sgt. Cameron Shearer from the Los Altos Police Department. 

According to an email Blach Principal Leslie Crane sent to the school community, the boy was a high school student. He was was wearing a helmet, she said, and suffered only scratches and bruises.

"This morning before school started, a high school student, on his bike, was hit by a car in front of our school as he was riding down Covington Road to Grant," Crane wrote in an email to the Blach school community.

Traffic was creeping along at the time, said Shearer, and the vehicle involved in the collision was moving approximately 5 miles per hour.

The driver stopped immediately, and officers responded to a 911 call, Shearer said. He added that incidents like these are not uncommon, although this was the first in that area this year.

"That area is always really congested, so we’ve had accidents like that happen over the years," he said.

Two weeks ago, a student at Los Altos High School was hit by a car in front of the school. Parents, students and school administrators pleaded with the City Council to do something to make the street safer. The council authorized a crossing guard for the morning period and directed staff to design a raised crosswalk with flashing lights, similar to what is at Almond School, a few blocks east.

Expressing relief that the boy was not badly injured, Crane suggested this was a good time for everyone to focus attention on bike safety.

"We continue to stress to the students the bicycle safety rules of the road, but we hope that you, as parents, can use this accident as a 'teachable moment' with your child about proper bicycle safety, too."