She is now at home, recovering, with a leg broken in two places, seven stitches in the same leg, and multiple contusions and bruises.

Her accident has led many to question the safety of children who walk and bike to Columbia Middle School.

Members of the school staff have expressed concern for the students. Gloria Diaz, administrative assistant in Columbia's front office, said that Tierney is the fifth child to get hit by a car close to the school since Diaz started working there in 2001.

But Capt. Byron Pipkin of the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said that incidents like this are not common. "Accidents where a child has this type of severe injury are very rare," Pipkin said.

Statistics from the public safety department show that since Jan. 2000, four accidents, including Tierney's, have occurred on Morse Avenue within a couple blocks of Columbia. All four have involved juveniles and resulted in injuries, though in the previous three incidents, the public safety department found the juvenile to be at fault.

Diaz said she is shocked that many of the drivers she sees speeding past the school are parents. "I see cars just fly by. Sometimes the kids are crossing the crosswalk, and the drivers just go around them. They're too busy to slow down," said Diaz.

Judy Tierney, Makayla's mother, said that as a parent, it is very difficult to maneuver through the streets around Columbia. "It's not only because the school is right there, but it's a residential area. You have people leaving for work, kids walking to school and parents dropping them off," she said.

Tierney added that there aren't enough crosswalks around the school area to allow children to walk and ride their bikes safely. The lack of crosswalks, Tierney said, forces a child riding a bicycle to ride in the middle of the street and cross in front of cars to turn left, which is what her daughter was doing when the car hit her.

Diaz said Columbia has requested that the public safety department provide crossing guards around the school. When a request is submitted, the traffic engineering department conducts a traffic survey to see if the area warrants a crossing guard, and Columbia's request had been denied. However, Pipkin said that due to the recent accident, the traffic unit may look into conducting another study to assess the area around the school.

Judy Tierney said she's seen teachers standing at the crosswalk to help kids cross the street. "They shouldn't have to do that, but they do," she said.

Tierney said her daughter is upset over the accident. "She's really angry because she's a softball player, and it stunted her season."

Doctors have said that Makayla will recover and the cast will come off in eight weeks. Then she will begin physical therapy.