WHITE OAK, Pa. — A White Oak teenager is lucky to be alive after he ran into the side of a woman’s car as she drove down the street last month.
White Oak police confirmed the 14-year-old ran a stop sign on Oneil Boulevard and careened into the woman’s Mazda. The force of the impact smashed her window, damaged both doors, a bumper panel and several pieces of trim, causing her insurance to total her car.
The driver, Charlotte Miller, said she climbed out the window after seeing the teen knocked out in the middle of the street, and she and another woman rendered aid while calling 911.
She said the teen woke up before first responders arrived. He survived with several broken bones and a citation for running a stop sign.
Miller said she didn’t see the crash coming.
“As soon as I passed this intersection, the glass just smashed out,” she recalled.
Channel 11 has covered the rising number of e-bike-related crashes.
In May, a 25-year-old New Castle man died after he collided with a police cruiser. Last month, a Beaver County 15-year-old suspected of being under the influence was flown to the hospital after crashing his e-bike.
Miller said the law has not kept up with e-bike adoption and use by teenagers, as well as the general public.
She wanted community leaders to double down on their push to regulate e-bike use, and in the meantime, encourage parents to talk with their teenagers.
“I just would love for people to understand that it can be really dangerous for your child, but also dangerous for you financially if you get in this situation,” she said. “Not everybody has a lot of money to just repair things that just happen out of the blue to them.”
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