By Chris Cassidy
DANVERS — Along the stretch of Centre Street where a sixth-grader was hit by a car on Monday, cars whizzed by as many drivers ignored the speed limit and some even neglected to yield to a pedestrian in the crosswalk yesterday.
"It's very busy," said Paul Murray, an elementary school crossing guard at the intersection of Centre and Prince streets. "As a matter of fact, it's getting worse."
Monday morning, Kaylee Halloran, an 11-year-old Holten Richmond Middle School student was struck inside the crosswalk while trying to cross Centre Street to get to her bus stop.
She was taken to Beverly Hospital, then flown by helicopter to a Boston hospital.
Michael Halloran, Kaylee's uncle and a firefighter in Beverly, said his niece is recuperating and in stable condition following surgery Monday evening.
"It's just one day at a time right now," Michael Halloran said. His brother Chris, Kaylee's father, is a lieutenant with the Beverly Fire Department.
Michael Halloran said calls have come pouring in from co-workers and friends on his niece's status.
Despite the accident, many drivers continued to zoom down Centre Street yesterday afternoon, minutes before the middle school bus pulled up.
Murray himself said he was nearly hit yesterday morning trying to help a student navigate the crosswalk.
"In six years, I haven't seen anyone go 25 mph," Murray said. "The signs don't make any difference."
Melissa Forest, a Centre Street neighbor who lives in front of the bus stop, grew up in the neighborhood and said the traffic problems have only gotten worse since then.
"It's not safe," Forest said. "I get nervous taking my daughter on walks. It's very hard pulling out of driveways around here."
The speed limit in her area is 30-35 mph — too fast considering how close homes are to one another, Forest said.
Many drivers use Centre Street because it runs parallel to congested Route 114, and drivers often exceed 40 or 50 miles per hour, she said.
Others beep at pedestrians who don't walk fast enough through the crosswalk, she said.
"We've seen so many accidents in front of our house," she said.
There's no indication that speed played a factor in Monday's accident, however.
Police cited Thomas Bussone, 35, of 464 Hanover St., Boston, with failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk and failing to use care when slowing or stopping.
A witness said the driver claimed he just never saw the girl.
Investigators are expected to issue an accident reconstruction report later this month, police said.
Meanwhile, Forest said she'd like to see the speed limit lowered and for drivers to slow down.
Danvers police Sgt. Robert Bettencourt said the police and School Department will await the accident report, then determine whether further measures, such as adding a crossing guard for middle school students (instead of just elementary school students), are needed.
Bettencourt said police conduct some 15 selective enforcements a day throughout the city, each for at least an hour at a time.
"Our job is to make things as safe as we can," Bettencourt said. "If we need to change things, that's what we'll do."
Staff writers Ethan Forman and Bruno Matarazzo Jr. contributed to this story.
