A 5-year-old girl died after a car struck her while she was crossing East Broad Street with her family near Reynoldsburg late Thursday, turning a routine family outing into a devastating loss.
Gem Scott was crossing East Broad Street near Outerbelt Street when an eastbound vehicle hit her, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Medics took Scott to Mount Carmel East in critical condition, but doctors later pronounced her dead.
Columbus police said the crash happened as the family crossed the broad, heavily traveled roadway. The circumstances surrounding the collision remain under investigation, and authorities have not released additional details about the driver or any possible citations.
East Broad Street Already Flagged For Safety Concerns
The fatal crash occurred along a corridor the city has already identified as a dangerous stretch for people walking and biking. Columbus says East Broad Street is part of its Vision Zero High Injury Network because of the number of serious or fatal crashes involving vulnerable road users.
Safety work is underway or planned along the corridor, including new sidewalks, a shared-use path, upgraded traffic signals, pedestrian push buttons, lighting and other changes intended to slow traffic and make crossings safer, according to the city’s East Broad Street safety project. The improvements cover the area between I-270 and Outerbelt Street, with a second phase planned farther east toward Reynoldsburg-New Albany Road.
For Scott’s family, however, those future changes offer no comfort in the immediate aftermath of a child’s death. The crash is a painful reminder that even as long-term street redesigns move forward, families crossing East Broad Street remain exposed to fast-moving traffic today.
