MAKAKILO, Oahu, Hawaii -- A teenage boy died Monday morning after a truck ran him down as he ran to catch a school bus on Makakilo Drive.

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Nathan Ackerman, 15, died on a stretch of road that residents have been complaining about for years.

Neighbors said it was a tragedy waiting to happen. In the area is a pathway to the elementary school and the stop for the middle school bus.

Ackerman was just like hundreds of other kids who rush across the four lanes of road.

Among the most vocal speeding opponents Ackerman's mother.

"My husband and I said, 'One of these days, one of these children were going to get killed,' but we never ever could have imagined it would be ours," Dena Ackerman said.

Nathan Ackerman was a quiet, skinny, Civil War buff, his family said.

He was rushing to catch the bus to eighth grade at Kapolei Middle School.

His mother remembered their last conversation.

"'Hurry up Nathan. You've got to get going. And you've got to go, last day and then you've got your break.' And I said, 'Have a good day and I love you.' And that was the last thing I got to say to him," Dena Ackerman said. "I was in the kitchen and I heard it and I just instantly knew. So, I grabbed my phone and I ran outside."

Although police said the truck that struck Nathan Ackerman was not speeding, neighbors said most cars there are. A witness said the driver was unhurt, but shaken.

"He felt very bad. He understandably felt very bad," Makakilo townhouse manager, Mike Mayo, said.

Children can struggle to find a safe moment to sprint across four lanes.

"I see the children standing here timing themselves to dart across this drive in-between traffic, cars," Makakilo resident James Covington said.

"I think there should be a cross walk here so it would be more safer than really dangerous," Kapolei Middle School student Kainalu Mcue-Unciano said.

Dena Ackerman said she trusted her son's judgment. She said she worries still about younger children, who will still try and run the gauntlet.

"Day after day we see children, who are 7-years-old, 9-years-old, who are dodging cars and running across the street every day," Dena Ackerman said.

Years ago, former Mayor Jeremy Harris wanted a crosswalk and median there. Council members shot down the idea for fear of complaints that the traffic calming would slow down traffic. So, the city did nothing.

"I will never have my son again. He's gone and I don't want to see this happen to anybody else's child, ever," Dena Ackerman said.