Not one more teen death. That was the appeal Thursday night from parents who showed up demanding safer streets in Cupertino.
The parents, angry and heartbroken over the death of a 15-year-old boy killed while riding his bicycle to school, want the city and police to make changes -- and fast.
"You can actually have all the city precautions, but the bigger factor is the truck that ran into this traffic," said Kuo-Wei Chang, a parent who was very vocal at Cupertino's public safety meeting.
Chang wanted to know what the city is doing to make the streets safer after his son's classmate, Ethan Wong, was struck and killed by a big-rig last month.
"We are all parents," he said. "I just envision myself if my son was struck by the truck."
Wong was riding his bike to school down McClellan Road when the truck hit him.
Chang said his son was waiting for him that day so they could make a class presentation.
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"My son was not able to find him," Chang said. "Later, he learned he was struck."
Since then, Chang has been on a mission to bring about change. He asked if the mayor's staff will have soon have a proposal to increase safety on city streets.
An officer said staff is going to report back on the input that was provided by the public at a meeting last week. Dozens of people showed up for last week's workshop, where parents exchanged ideas about kids and bike safety.
"There were some ambitious proposals that came out of that meeting," said Rick Kitson, a city spokesperson. "Increase enforcement, more crossing guards, more regulations for trucks or different regulations for trucks."
Cupertino's municipal code requires trucks to take designated routes. But there are exceptions for trucks making pickups and deliveries.
Chang is now aware of the current laws, but he said the kids should be the priority.
"Maybe we can have a solution where we take care of the kids safety and have the city still working as usual," he said.
