Special Report: Crossing Into Danger

It happens all too often, students getting hit by cars on their way to and from school.

In Roslindale, a red convertible runs down 12-year-old girl just feet from her charter school. She died two days later.

And in Norwood, 14-year-old Allison White was hit head on in a cross walk, on her way to school. She did not survive.

Cynthia White, Allison's mother
"It was horrible. It was just horrible. It was the worst day of my life, because somebody was in a hurry to get somewhere and couldn't slow down."

In Massachusetts, it 's the law. School zones are clearly marked 20 miles per hour. And experts say just a few miles over the limit could be the difference between life and death.

Lieutenant Dan Minton, Quincy Police Department
"The faster you're going the longer it takes to stop. It's as simple as that."

7News put drivers to the test, and our results may surprise you. On a controlled track, we tested the distance it takes a car to stop safely.

On this day, conditions were wet and windy. We set our green safety cones a distance of 25 feet from an inflatable safety doll and a second doll 25 feet further. We had 4 test drivers go 20 miles per hour. then try to stop.

Brandon Bogart, In Control Driver
"Hit the breaks as hard as you can!"

At this safe speed, all four stopped without hitting the doll, it took about 22 feet for the cars to stop.

Debbie, driver
"At 20 I felt like I had enough time to stop."

For our second test the drivers go 30 miles an hour. Although its only 10 miles per hour faster - look out!

Patrick, second driver
"I hit the kid."

Sarah, third driver
"Oh no, I hit him!" Later she explained, "at 30 I thought it wouldn't make that much more of a difference, but I hit it."

This time our test drivers needed about 38 feet to come to a stop!

Brandon Bogart, In Control Driver
"The numbers were pretty amazing, going from 20 to 30 almost doubled the stopping distance."

Then we had the drivers speed up to 40 miles an hour.

Patrick, second driver
"I wasn't even close."

All drivers hit the first doll and the second doll.

Patrick, second driver
"It surprised me a lot."

It took them roughly 67 feet to come to a halt.

That's 3 times the distance it took to stop when they were going 20 miles per hour!

Mary Lou, another test driver
"Going 40 miles per hour, I was really shocked...there is no way to avoid hitting a child doing 40 miles an hour."

To drive the point home- a national study shows nearly 2 out of every 3 drivers don't obey speed limits in school zones. Which leaves Allison's mother asking why.

Cynthia White, Allison's mother
"Just slow down, where are you going that's worth that kind of risk?"

An important message is to prevent any child from crossing into danger.

(Copyright 2008 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)