My son was run down in a Charlotte crosswalk last weekend

From Mary Clayton of Charlotte:

January 14th will be one of those days where the memory remains etched solidly in a parent’s mind forever. My son was run down by a motorcyclist in a crosswalk near his home in the Commonwealth area of Charlotte. We are lucky he is alive.

Beyond the horror of what happened, it brings forward a few things that maybe we should all think more about.

Charlotte is a rapidly growing, changing city. Traffic and the challenges associated with it mean that we all need to be more conscious of safety, not less.

In my own neighborhood of Cotswold, I see total disregard for the directional arrows in the parking lot of the Cotswold Shopping Center. The local Chick Fil A is creating all sorts of challenges, and when the new Publix opens, I am sure this ‘neighborhood’ will see traffic that exceeds anyone’s expectations. In just my short commute to uptown in the morning’s I already receive the middle finger when I don’t rush through the red lights routinely or pause on yellow in the busiest of intersections in Charlotte.

Perhaps if we re-instated the red light program from a few years back not only would we encourage safer actions, but we could add revenue from a different source other than storm water, garbage collection, etc.

One thing for sure, if you suddenly find yourself in the position of learning that it is your son or daughter that is run down by a car or motorcycle while simply following the rules, maybe you will rethink your speed, your attitude, and the need to get that text message in while driving.

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 1:23 PM with the headline "My son was run down in a Charlotte crosswalk last weekend."