Teenage girl hit by car and seriously injured on her way to school in Foothill Farms

NORTH HIGHLANDS – A young girl was seriously injured Monday morning after she was hit by a car on her way to school in Foothill Farms.

The California Highway Patrol said the crash happened around 8 a.m. on Hillsdale Boulevard, south of Palm Avenue in the community of Foothill Farms.

The girl who was hit by a car was just a few blocks from a high school and a middle school. CBS 13 reached out to the Twin Rivers Unified School District to see if she was a student there, but we did not hear back.

According to the CHP, Hillsdale Boulevard is a busy road in the morning and evening. First responders had to slow traffic Monday to get the girl to the hospital quickly.

CHP said the girl was crossing the street directly in front of a car driven by a man in his 20s.

It is a spot on the road where there are no crosswalks, but there is a median separating north and south traffic.

People who drive this road every day told CBS 13 that despite the lack of pedestrian infrastructure, children continue to cross there. During school pick-up time, KOVR saw dozens of children crossing the street and adults also darting across traffic.

“The speed limit out here is 35 miles per hour,” said Charles Jeffries, who lives nearby and witnessed the accident. “You don’t see anyone down here doing 35 miles per hour. You stand here long enough to see them racing down here.”

CBS 13 reached out to Sacramento County and said it has seen a vehicle-pedestrian accident in the area in the last five years. That was around midnight in 2022, north of the intersection of Hillsdale and Palm Avenue. County records show the pedestrian was allegedly crossing illegally.

It said there have been no requests from residents to investigate the intersection in the past five years, but neighbors believe a pedestrian crossing needs to be added.

“The middle divider is right there, gets hit every night, and there are no reflectors or anything,” Jeffries said. “They’re doing illegal U-turns and accidents, accidents everywhere here. All that stuff. Every other day or every day.”

There are several crosswalks on other nearby cross streets, but people seem to walk along Hillsdale Boulevard often anyway.

CHP said there are more dangerous corridors than this throughout North Sacramento and said Hillsdale Boulevard receives no more calls than any other location.

However, a young teenager was seriously injured after being hit by a car.

CHP did not provide any information about the girl’s condition.