SWFL woman fighting for pedestrian safety after losing her son

In Collier County, deputies are stepping up traffic patrols to help students walking and biking to class.

It’s something one mother is thankful to see.

It’s been 10 months to the day since Nikki Colvin lost her son after he was hit by a truck while crossing the street on his bike.

Nikki believes in the fight for biker and pedestrian safety.

“I know I’m not the first parent who’s lost their child and I unfortunately won’t be the last,” she says.

It was a normal conversation on the phone with her 13-year-old son Shayden just seconds before he was hit.

“He said ‘no no no oh no no’ and then his phone went dead.”

A truck hit Shayden as he was riding his bike through the crosswalk at Lakewood Boulevard and Estey Avenue, just minutes from home.

“Somedays it’s overwhelming and I still can’t fathom he’s not going to walk through the door.”

What’s even harder is knowing drivers continue to make the same dangerous and careless mistakes.

“You can see kids after school, cars don’t stop, they’re afraid to cross the road.”

But after her son’s death, she’s made it her mission to remove the fear by speaking up at council meetings, even getting blinking stop signs at the intersection, raising her voice and her message to drivers.

“You’re in a multiple-ton vehicle– that’s a deadly weapon clearly–it was a deadly weapon for Shayden,” she said.

Collier County deputies will patrol stretches of road until May of next year, as they say traffic crashes are over-represented on those roads.

That combined with Shayden’s story will hopefully save the next child.

“It makes me smile to see the impact he still has,” she said.