A 12-year-old boy has died after a vehicle struck him while he was riding his bicycle near 11th Street and 9th Avenue in Rockford on Tuesday evening. Emergency crews were called to the scene around 5:30 p.m., and police said the child later died from his injuries.
Rockford Police said in a social media post Tuesday evening that the boy died from his injuries, according to mystateline.com. The outlet reported the crash happened near 11th Street and 9th Avenue, with no other details immediately available. MyStateline reported the child's death Tuesday night, noting the collision occurred between the boy's bicycle and a car.
Separately, rockfordnewsfirst.com reported that emergency personnel were dispatched around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to the area of 9th Avenue and 11th Street for a vehicle-versus-bicycle crash. Neither the child's name nor the driver's identity has been released, and it remains unclear whether anyone was cited in connection with the crash. Police have not said who had the right of way or what led to the collision.
A Corridor Already Flagged as High-Risk
The crash occurred along a stretch of 11th Street that city data has identified as one of the more dangerous pedestrian and bicyclist corridors in Rockford. According to the same report, the 11th Street corridor saw 34 crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists, including five fatalities, from 2015 through 2025, with the corridor described as one of the most dangerous for pedestrians in the city.
The report also discussed safety recommendations for the corridor.
Citywide Task Force Found Hundreds of Crashes
The 11th Street fatality adds to a broader pattern documented by Rockford's Pedestrian Safety Task Force, which reviewed bicycle and pedestrian crashes citywide from 2015 through 2025. The task force analyzed 996 crashes and 53 fatalities during that 10-year period, according to mystateline.com.
That same task force identified several high-risk corridors and locations across the city, including Harrison Avenue and South Alpine Road, as well as the North Central Avenue and Auburn Street corridors. Its recommendations included new crosswalks, pedestrian signals, lighting improvements and other safety measures intended to reduce crashes citywide.
Tuesday's crash is not the first fatal collision involving a bicyclist in Rockford in recent years. A 65-year-old woman on a bicycle was reportedly hit and killed in a Rockford crash in November 2024, according to a separate mystateline.com report, though details of that earlier incident remain limited.
Police have not released additional information about Tuesday's crash, including the child's exact location before the collision or his direction of travel. The investigation remains ongoing, and officials said the case will be updated as more information becomes available.
