A Moray mum is calling for action to be taken against speeding motorists after her seven-year-old son was run over outside their home.
Rhys Harvey was hit by a car on Elgin’s Pinefield Crescent on Monday evening, and spent hours in hospital following the collision.
Mum Roxanne Harvey, 27, said the youngster was crossing the road on the way to a local chip shop when he was thrown over the bonnet of a silver Volkswagen Passat and knocked unconscious.
Rhys spent hours in hospital undergoing observation, and will have a permanent bald spot on his head from where he landed on the ground.
The badly bruised East End primary school pupil is nursing a sore back and hip from when he was thrown onto the road, and is taking the rest of the week off school to recuperate.
Neighbours rallied round to help the injured youngster immediately after the accident and his mum took him to hospital.
She said the driver of the car that hit Rhys maintained he was not speeding, and called the family home yesterday to ask after his welfare.
However, Miss Harvey said vehicles routinely broke the speed limit in the residential area and she hoped her son’s accident would result in action to make it safer.
She said: “It was really scary, Rhys’s friend came and got me and when I reached him his eyes were rolling around in his head.
“The driver got out to make sure Rhys was okay, he said he just didn’t see him.
“Rhys walks to school himself every day along the A96, he knows all about road safety.”
Miss Harvey, who works in a grocery store near her home, is urging road bosses to install speed bumps or lower the speed limit on Pinefield Crescent.
She said: “Everyone locally knows that the road is a problem.
“We live next to an industrial estate and at 5pm the road is always really busy, with cars sometimes going well over the speed limit.
“There are lots of children who live in this area, and we’ve known that it isn’t safe for a long time.”
Elgin City North councillor Patsy Gowans wished the family well and vowed to take action.
She said: “I know that residents have been concerned about this road for some time.
“I will contact the roads and transport department in relation to this and see if there’s something that can be done to alleviate speeding.”
Last night police confirmed the incident was reported to them at 5.07pm on Monday and had been dealt with as a non-criminal road accident.
An accident report has been submitted to Moray Council.
In 2012 Pinefield Crescent resident Tracey Ritchie petitioned unsuccessfully for speed bumps to be installed on the street, citing fears for the safety of the area’s children.