A serious accident with an injured child in Pieriga. Would the speed limit have reduced the consequences of the accident? / Script

(Video contains unpleasant scenes)
The story is about a traffic accident that will be included in the statistics of 2024 – a pedestrian, a child was seriously injured. LTV is analyzing whether there would be a basis for a different traffic organization in the place where the child was injured, as the local residents had requested a few years before the accident.

At the beginning of March, 13-year-old Dana got off at the bus stop on her way home from school. However, she did not get home that day.

The bus stop “Kultūras nams” is located on the side of the P4 highway, in Pierīga, next to Ulbroka. Crossing the highway, the well-visited culture house “Pearl of Ulbrok” ​​is very close by. The traffic here is very intense, but the permitted driving speed is 90 kilometers per hour.

The video surveillance cameras of the nearby car service recorded part of what happened to the teenager Dana on the fateful March 7.

Dana’s mother, Jana StreĽac, later received a call from the Children’s Hospital that her child had been injured in a traffic accident.

“We can’t tell you whether he is conscious or not. Drive here quickly, but just don’t worry,” Dana’s mother, Jana StreĽac, told the doctors.

Jana said that the child was unconscious for 10 days, and she also awaited her birthday in intensive care. A month and a half has passed since the accident. Dana doesn’t remember what happened on March 7, but she has seen the video.

In the criminal process, a pre-trial investigation of the incident is underway, the results of expert examinations are awaited, and there are more unanswered questions than answers. It is known that the driver is very young with a driver’s license obtained about a year ago.

What were the opportunities of the driver to avoid the collision with the girl, the conclusion will be up to the investigators.

“This is also a question that is not clear – how could they not notice each other,” admitted the victim girl’s mother.

Traffic accidents are not uncommon in the area where Dana was hit. Since the beginning of last year, Dana is the only injured pedestrian. However, motorists get into accidents quite often on the road section of a few kilometers leading from Ulbrok circle. This is confirmed not only by the statistics of the State Police, but also by the observations of the employees of the nearby service.

“One [mašīna] in general flew over a hundred meters forward, threw a somersault, the other one was lying there in the ditch for some time back. I think a tow truck flew into the ditch last year,” said Edgars Indriķis, a car service employee.

The Ropaži County Council confirms that in 2017 the municipality asked “Latvijas Valsts ceļim” to improve traffic safety in this area by reducing the permitted driving speed, as well as to consider the possibility of installing a pedestrian crossing. “Latvijas Valsts ceļi” refused to the municipality and told Latvian Television (LTV) that

the permitted speed of 90 kilometers per hour is because the section of the road is located outside the settlement, is transparent, and is allowed by the technical parameters of the road.

Also because the road leads through a massif of forest and there are no inhabited buildings nearby. In the meantime, the traffic safety specialist contacted by LTV admits that it would be reasonable if the permitted driving speed in this small section to the beginning of the settlement was lower.

“Yes, of course, in Latvia it is not planned to reduce the speed at every place where there are bus stops. Especially where there are not many people coming from the stop,” said Riga Technical University (RTU) assistant professor Juris Kreicbergs. “Another thing is that in this particular place, 200 meters away, a settlement begins. Why couldn’t that piece be 70 [kilometri stundā], where, even when driving in the other direction, the speed could be gradually reduced. It would seem very logical.”

In the meantime, the Ropaži County Council advises pedestrians to use the next stop, which is approximately half a kilometer away, for safety reasons.

Later, however, they say that they could return to the issue of traffic safety if there was a submission.

“Then, on this basis, we could turn to “Latvian State Roads” with a request to improve the safety issues of sections of this road,” said Ainārs Vaičulens, the first deputy chairperson of the Ropažu County Council.

“We have the most child-friendly municipality. Then we would like it to apply not only to free lunches, but also to road safety, because what is the point of free lunches if no one eats more, as was very real in our case,” added Dana’s mother, Jana StreĽac .

During the creation of the story, LTV received a message from “Latvijas Valsts ceļii” that their experts will re-survey the P4 section of the road. If experts consider it necessary, they will decide on changes in the traffic organization.