A Bathurst Public School parent fears students are at risk of being seriously injured as they make their way to school, because their designated school crossings aren’t supervised.
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Stephen Rogers, whose son attends the school, said on Tuesday there were two near misses, as drivers failed to stop for children.
He said he was so concerned he went and spoke to the school and was told it had applied for funding for a “lollipop man” to control traffic during peak periods, but was told the application had been rejected.
To be eligible for a school crossing supervisor the school must have an existing children’s crossing being used by infant and / or primary school children, it must be located within a 40km school zone, and must be used by a minimum 50 unaccompanied infant and or primary school children per hour, across a road carrying 300 passenger car units per hour.
Mr Rogers, said he can’t believe there isn’t a crossing supervisor, and it’s only a matter of time before a child is seriously injured or killed using the crossings.
“I was walking my son to school [on Tuesday] and there two near misses on the George / Lambert Street crossing.
“Not long after another driver failed to stop,” he said.
“I approached the school and asked why there is no lollipop man, they said the RMS were contacted and an application was put in but it was rejected.
“Apparently crossing supervisors aren’t warranted, but there’s not even any flags out on the crossing, there’s no traffic control at all.
“ I don’t know when the RMS did the survey, who knows, maybe it was the school holidays.
“There’s 700 kids at the school, it’s just a matter of time before something [bad] happens” he said.
Mr Rogers said the issue was more prevalent with east bound cars travelling on George Street.
“I don’t know if they’ve got the morning sun in their eyes or they are distracted, but I’ve seen several late braking cars [after a child has stepped out onto the crossing],” he said.
The RMS said a recently announced expansion of the school crossing supervisor program meant the eligibility criteria was more flexible, and $18.5 million in funding over four years would deliver 300 more school crossing supervisors.
“From July 2019, the new criteria will require a crossing to only need to meet one of the traffic or pedestrian counts in the morning or afternoon school zone time.
“By making the criteria change, 69 schools that applied in the past two years will become eligible for a school crossing supervisor, including Bathurst Public School,” they said.