Stansbury Park family continues to fight for school zone designation after being hit in a crosswalk

STANSBURY PARK — One family knows how painful it can be when a driver doesn’t see you in the crosswalk.

Max Winn is a typical 11-year-old boy who likes playing games at home.

“Board games, card games, Pokémon,’ Max said. “I like Uno, Life – it’s just fun and interesting.”

It wasn’t long ago that these games got Max through some difficult days of recovery after he and his mother were hit by an SUV while in a crosswalk. Their injuries were severe.

“I had a broken leg, and like, when I first got hit, my arm was really hurting,” Max said. “Mom had a bunch of bruises everywhere and a really bad one on her leg.”

“It left me with herniated discs in my neck and my back,” said Aubree Winn, Max’s mother. “I also have a shoulder injury.”

The duo was hit by the Dodge Durango on Oct. 30, 2023. It was Max’s birthday, and his mother was walking him to school that morning. As they approached the crossing at Montauk Lane and Village Blvd, the pair grabbed the orange flag, checked the road to make sure it was clear, and began to cross towards Bonneville Academy.

“I didn’t see it, I didn’t hear it,” Aubree Winn said. “I had no idea until the car was in my stomach.”

“The car just hit us, and I kind of blacked out for a second; I woke up on the ground like, ‘What’s happening? Did I just get hit?’” Max added.

The two spent months in therapy recovering from their physical and mental injuries, and as the family starts the new school year, they’re pleading with drivers to slow down and pay attention to what’s happening on the road.

“I just want people to take that extra time, that extra thought, think about other people, think about how your actions can affect other people, how one split second of not paying attention or distraction or maybe you were in a hurry, just that one split second can really just cause something that cannot be taken back,” Aubree Winn said.

“Just pay attention to the road, especially in the crosswalks,” Max added.

After the accident, parents of Bonneville Academy students contacted KSL TV with concerns about the safety of the Montauk Lane and Village Blvd crossing and the lack of a school zone designation for the area. The academy employees staffed the crossing before and after school.

At the time, Tooele County officials promised to investigate the crossing, and a digital speed warning sign was brought in to help slow traffic.

According to Tooele County Assist County Manager Brittany Lopez, a pedestrian count was conducted after the accident but did not meet the threshold for county intervention.

In February, a meeting was held with Bonneville Academy to inform them of their next steps toward obtaining an official school zone designation.

Bonneville Academy’s Director Juliette Herrera sent this statement to KSL TV about the developments from that meeting:

Bonneville Academy Board of Directors met with Tooele County officials to discuss the possibility of installing a crosswalk to ensure the safety of our students. The county advised us to complete a Safe Routes to School map in collaboration with UDOT. However, they also informed us that there is no guarantee we will qualify for a crosswalk, primarily because charter schools do not have designated boundary lines. Additionally, if approval is granted, Bonneville Academy would be responsible for the costs associated with installing the crosswalk.

To enhance our chances of success, the BA Board of Directors is working closely with administration to establish a crosswalk committee. This committee, which will include parents, teachers, and community members, will focus on advocating for the crosswalk, not only for the benefit of Bonneville Academy but for the entire Stansbury Park community.

In the meantime, we have BA employees stationed at the crosswalk area to ensure the safety of our students.

“It’s frustrating, it’s disappointing,” Aubree Winn said. “We really had high hopes that something positive, some big changes would be made after this happening, and not seeing that, we kind of feel like we’ve been let down.”

As the mother continues to push for safety improvements near Bonneville Academy, she and Max are working towards being able to walk to and from school once again. Max is using the tools he’s learned in therapy to work towards that goal.

“Mom, if you ever feel that me walking from school to home is nervous to you, just remember I used to do it all the time and nothing bad happened until that day,” he said.

“And that is something he’s learned working with his therapist,” Aubree Winn added.

When reflecting on the accident, Aubree Winn said she feels grateful that Max was slightly behind her and that the Durango hit her first. Had their positions been swapped, she fears what might have been.

“If he had been in front and he had been hit first, it would have been a lot worse. It could have killed him. It could have caused brain damage,” she said.

Aubree Winn said she’s looking forward to the new school year and the fresh start for her family.

“It was a long hard journey, even once you get past the physical there is the mental and emotional,” she said.

Max is looking forward to 6th grade. He says he loves school, and even though he’s a little nervous, he’s happy to be there.

“I’m kind of excited to see if this is going to be a really good year,” said Max.

KSL TV is working on obtaining the pedestrian count data from Tooele County.