City to quickly study where 4-year-old girl was hit by Windsor bus

The 4-year-old girl hit by a city bus in Windsor last month is still not awake or talking. But her relatives say Lila Jane Zuest is stable in critical condition and not having any setbacks.

She was hit by a city bus near Mic Mac Park on May 27.

Zuest's aunt, Courtney Belanger, was at city hall Monday night holding a poster with the girl's picture on it. Council voted to speed up the process of looking at putting a crosswalk on the section of Prince Rd. where the collision happened.

"It's a lot of mixed emotions. You know, you find yourself wanting to cry. You might find yourself feeling proud and then you go back to you can't even believe that this is even happening," Belanger said outside of the council meeting. 

"I didn't expect that," she said, adding she thought it would take a while before the city put up the crosswalk. "So right now I'm extremely confident, optimistic. I feel proud and happy and a lot of positive feelings."

City administration will now look at statistics about traffic volume and speed to see if the crosswalk is warranted. That report has been expedited and will return to council at its next meeting June 18. 

Mayor Drew Dilkens said council could vote to put one in regardless of the report, but it's likely going to follow the recommendation.

"There's a lot of attention on this one particular area, and it's tragic what happened to this poor young girl, and I feel very bad for her and her family, but we have to look at the entire city and what makes sense," said Dilkens.

"City council has to have some mechanism to determine where to allocate those resources because it's not inexpensive and you can't just go ahead and put them in everywhere."

Belanger collected 3,000 signatures on a petition asking for the crosswalk. She says her niece got excited about seeing the park across the street and darted on to the road before someone could grab her.

"She's doing really well. She's doing her best to keep fighting and there's been so setbacks," said Belanger, who saw her Zuest last week. 

The girl was airlifted to a London, Ont. hospital to be treated for her injuries. Belanger said she has undergone all major surgeries and is now recovering. 

"It's the worst thing you can possibly imagine," she said.