Near miss involving child prompts Ventura police to issue road safety message

VENTURA, Calif - Ventura Police posted a video clip Tuesday on their Twitter account showing a "near miss" in a crosswalk at a busy intersection.

The 13 second video shows a child or young teen wearing a backpack slowly riding a bike into a crosswalk. Within seconds, he puts his foot down and scoots to a stop while a light gold SUV whizzed by just feet from the bike's front tire. The light was already red.

The video was taken from a Photo Enhancement Camera posted at the intersection of Main and Lemon Grove.

Ventura Police tweeted out the following message:

"As holidays approach & we spend more time w family, please discuss the importance of road safety w your kids. In this video of what we call a "near miss," a driver continues through an intersection after the light had been red for 8 seconds. Please stay focused behind the wheel!"

Emily Graves, a spokeswoman with the Ventura Police Department, confirmed that the incident happened last month at 10:30 a.m. and that "the light was red for eight seconds; the yellow for 4.8 seconds" before the driver zipped through the intersection.

Graves said the department has a "plethora of footage" of actual incidents like this that help get their safety messages across to the public, especially during the holidays when more people and families are out and about.

Graves told NewsChannel that the driver was contacted by Ventura Police and given a $490 dollar citation.