Two girls crossing a street in a crosswalk were struck by a car that careened into them moments after colliding with another car Tuesday afternoon.
A tan car attempting to make a left turn from South Carlin Springs Road on to Third Street South in Arlington was struck by a red car in oncoming traffic. The collision caused the red car to hit the girls.
“I heard screeching brakes. Bang, bang,” said Matt Crute, who lives across the street.
“I saw the pink backpack underneath the car and I realized there’s somebody trapped underneath the car,” he said.
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He, his wife and several others rushed to the scene to help.
“The little girl was pinned against the, between the car and the fence, and we couldn’t get her out,” Crute said. “He put his weight on the chain link fence and created enough space so we could pull her out.”
Luckily, the girls’ physical injuries were not serious.
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Police cited the driver making the left, 59-year-old Chad Laub of Timberlake, Ohio, for failing to yield.
The crash reignited concerns from the community about traffic on Carlin Springs Road.
“I’ve lived in this neighborhood for seven-and-a-half years and I need more than two hands to count the number of car accidents I’ve seen in this area. In a residential neighborhood. In a school zone. That’s way too many car accidents.”
In May, Arlington County police launched a road safety campaign in the area.
“This is an unusual situation of a major arterial carrying a lot of traffic in the middle of a place where this traffic will never be safe enough,” Arlington County Board Vice Chair Takis Karantonis said.
Neighbors say safety along the road comes down to one thing.
“You can put all the safety measures in the world in place you want, but if people are just going to drive recklessly through here, it doesn’t really do very much good,” Crute said.
The county said the road is slated to undergo a study starting in 2026 as part of a 10-year improvement plan.
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