General News
18 May, 2022
‘How much is a child’s life worth’
THE State Government’s dismissal of road safety at Noorat Primary School has seen one parent turn to a federal MP to plead for help before the worst happens.
THE State Government’s dismissal of road safety at Noorat Primary School has seen one parent turn to a federal MP to plead for help before the worst happens.
Member for Wannon Dan Tehan visited the school last week to meet with Erin Lanchester and principal Ilona Watkins to discuss options to improve road safety at the school’s student crossing.
The school community has raised concerns for a number of years due to the flow of heavy traffic on MacKinnon’s Bridge Road, but principal Ilona Watkins said requests for assistance from VicRoads and the state government had been rebuffed.
“It’s frustrating,” she said.
“We have students we care deeply about and want to know we can get them to and from school safely.
“The last thing I want to do is make a phone call to a parent saying something has happened.”
Ms Watkins said she had seen too many examples of drivers speeding through the school zone to count.
“On a daily basis, people are not driving at the 40 kilometre limit,” she said.
“We will walk students across the road to make sure they are safe; a near miss and a child will come in with their heart racing."
“We’ve had cars stop and say, ‘What are you doing? We don’t have to stop if there is no lollipop lady’."
“People aren’t aware of the laws. You have to stop even if there isn’t a crossing supervisor.”
Noorat Primary School parent Erin Lanchester, who has a student in Year one and is president of the school council, said she had contacted Mr Tehan on behalf of the school community.
“How much is a child’s life worth?” she said,
“I’ve only been a parent for a bit over a year out here, but in that time I have seen a lot of cars speeding straight through and not obeying the 40 kilometre signs."
“I myself have my youngest in the pram and had to quickly walk off the crossing because a car has come through and not stopped."
“It’s really frustrating, and it’s quite scary.”
Mr Tehan said VicRoads needed to “lift its game”.
“As does the state government,” he said.
“The parents have been expressing this is a dangerous situation."
“What we would like to see is a VicRoads representative come down, meet with the community and see what needs to be done to make this children’s crossing a lot safer."
“I’ll be writing to the Minister asking them to do this as a matter of urgency because the last thing we want to see is an accident as a result of the nature of this children’s crossing.”