BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — 13-year-old Wyatt Lopez is still recovering from serious injuries after he was hit by a car in Buffalo last month.
His mom, Regina Bowden, said Wyatt broke both of his femurs and part of his pelvis. He also has nerve damage in his one eye.
"Wyatt was at the pool with his younger brother, his two friends. He walked up the bike path on Niagara to cross the street to come home. The light was red. He crossed at the crosswalk and a drunk driver hit him," she said. "It'll be a long time before he walks again he's gonna have to relearn to walk."
Since her son's accident, Bowden said she has seen a lot of crashes lately in Western New York. Now, she is hoping to see some kind of change to make our streets safer.
"I think that street signs children at play need to be put up. Slower speed limits. People need to be more aware of their surroundings when they're driving," she said.
State Senator Sean Ryan and Assemblyman Jon Rivera alongside GoBike's executive director, Justin Booth, are advocating for two bills that will prioritize making streets safer for everyone.
"It's time for us to start taking this problem more seriously at every aspect of government," Ryan said.
"When streets are safer for people to walk, bike or use wheelchairs. They're also safe people to drive," Booth said.
One bill would ensure that "Complete Streets" designs — which include more sidewalks, bike lanes and crosswalks — are used more in transportation projects across the state. The other would make sure that state or federal-funded projects follow "Complete Streets" rules.
"We need to go back to how our roads are built and how our roads are laid out, and how our roads are designed because the truth of the matter is, if you leave it up to local municipalities to build a road, they'll just redo the same road that's already there," Rivera said.
This push comes as the number of car crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists has risen in Western New York. In, 2020 there were 14 deadly crashes. But last year — there were 42.
"It's become an epidemic in Western New York," Ryan said.
Ryan and Rivera said these bills will have bipartisan support and hope both pass for families like Bowden's.
"I think that something should be done because going through it is a really tough situation and something that you would never imagine happening to your child and it's really scary so I wouldn't want no other parent to go through the pain that he's gone through I've gone through," Bowden said.
There is a GoFundMe to help Lopez. You can find that here.
