PREMIER, FIX THIS NOW
CHILDREN have been knocked by cars at peak school drop-off and pick-up times at Pimpama in an environment one parent has likened to ants scattering across a road.
The Bulletin has confirmed there have been two accidents outside the Pimpama State Primary and Secondary Colleges, but parents say they know of a third.
No crossings exist outside the campuses and there are no flashing warning signs. Consequently there are no “lollipop’’ ladies or men to supervise children and, importantly, the adults driving past when kids pour out the school gates. The children are looking for buses or parents in cars, or to walk home in Australia’s second fastest growing suburb. They’re not always thinking about safety, so have to be protected.
The latest accident occurred this week, with a boy suffering a broken ankle when knocked by a vehicle being driven slowly past by a parent. The child’s mother thought he had been killed.
After a written plea by a parent earlier this year to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who in turn passed the father’s concerns on to Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey and so on down the chain, with the usual flick then to committees and buckpassing by state departments to the council, nothing material has been done.
Everyone from the Premier down therefore has been advised about the danger outside these schools yet despite grand words in replies sent to the concerned father who tried to alert the Government, there is still no crossing or flashing warning light, or even a stated plan of how the problem will be fixed. Now another child has been knocked and injured. Premier, this is not good enough. The primary college, established four years ago, has 815 children enrolled. The secondary campus has 1590. Surely it is easy for Government MPs, state bureaucrats and council officials to imagine the danger outside the colleges each day, despite the best efforts of teachers who must be frantic in trying to monitor streets without clearly marked crossings, and despite the fears of parents and motorists.
With such rapid growth, Pimpama is in desperate need of infrastructure. The Government and council are under pressure to deal with major transport problems involving the M1, access ramps and feeder roads.
But a crossing for a school? How hard is that? Why the need for committees and “risk management’’ assessments? We all know the risks. Stop stuffing about and fix this today before a child dies.