Published10 September 2024, 19:45
Oberrieden ZH: After fatal accident: Chindsgi children are now accompanied across the street
On Monday afternoon, a kindergarten girl (5) died on a pedestrian crossing in Oberrieden ZH – she was hit by a truck. Parents from the village are now demanding action.
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Reto Wildeisen, mayor of Oberrieden ZH, comments on the tragic traffic accident.
20min/Celine Trachsel
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In Oberrieden ZH, people are mourning the death of a five-year-old girl who was hit by a truck on a pedestrian crossing.
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The road is considered dangerous because it is a main traffic route through the village, which even kindergarten children cross every day.
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The municipality has long wanted to take action, and a development plan was recently adopted at the municipal assembly.
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Meanwhile, the unsettled children are accompanied on their way to lunch.
An entire village is in mourning: In Oberrieden, the stream of people laying flowers for the girl (5) who had the accident continues unabated. The sea of flowers and candles continues to grow around a work of art in front of the Zimmerberg bank.
People are sad, but also angry because the road is dangerous. It is a main traffic artery that leads directly through the heart of the village. Kindergarten children have to cross this pedestrian crossing every day. It was the girl’s downfall.
Truck allegedly hit girl as it approached
The story goes that the truck driver let a group of children pass. The girl came a little way behind and wanted to cross the road too – but the truck had already started rolling. It is said to have hit the child at just a few kilometers per hour. At the checkout in the Coop, customers say: “The truck driver got out and almost fell over when he saw him.”
The girl died at the scene of the accident. The children who were walking ahead were accompanied by an adult, it is said. He tried to protect the children as best he could from the horrific images and led them away.
“With pilots, this accident would not have happened.”
“In the neighboring village I saw yellow pilots with a trowel in their hand,” a father told 20 Minuten. “Why don’t we have that here? This accident wouldn’t have happened with pilots!”
Mayor Reto Wildeisen takes the residents’ concerns seriously. But he also says: “The circumstances of the accident have not yet been clarified. We have to wait and see what the police’s findings show.” Now is the time for mourning. “Care teams are in action. On site at the accident site, in the municipal administration and in the schools.”
The local council has long wanted to calm traffic on the road. “But it is one of the two main traffic routes through the village and a cantonal road, so the cantonal police should actually take measures.” But safety may soon be increased: thanks to a development plan that was adopted at the last municipal assembly and still needs to be approved by the canton, the municipality now wants to carry out a study into what would make sense here.
Continuous speed limit of 50 km/h was rejected
“An individual initiative that demanded that the Alte Landstrasse remain at a speed of 50 km/h throughout was fortunately rejected on the advice of the municipal council at the penultimate municipal meeting,” says Wildeisen.
Either way, the community has already reacted, explains Wildeisen: “The school has noticed that the children are very unsettled. Now the children who walk to the lunch table at lunchtime are accompanied.”
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