PREMIUM
Opinion

Kialla West crossing safety should be priority

The families from Kialla West Primary School have every right to be frustrated with progress on resolving school crossing safety issues.

The crash more than three years ago could have been much worse; even so, the family is still living with the consequences.

This is a burden they should never have had to bear.

Kialla West is a growth area and the school will continue to grow.

In recent years the Victorian Government has invested in facilities to accommodate that growth.

An investment also needs to be made in making sure vehicles, and more so, vulnerable pedestrians, are able to access the school without fear.

Knowing what happened, it could never be far from the minds of parents approaching the crossing.

Kialla West is the first place where the Goulburn Valley Hwy, a major truck route, intersects with the more mundane pace of country life.

It is what planners call an urban interface, and the feedback from the school community is that near misses are common.

Every stage has arrived at an underpass as the only viable solution, but that would likely require some trees being removed.

Some of those trees are part of a memorial, planted to honour all those who enlisted in World War II from the region.

The school, and no doubt the wider community, respects the memorial and Liberal MP Wendy Lovell is certain that Fen Woodburn, the grieving father inspired to create the Avenue of Honour after losing his son Calder, would appreciate the need to protect children.

The truck driver convicted over the crash told the court he had started to slow down before a momentary loss of concentration.

That is all it takes for a tragedy to occur.

The best way to protect people is to separate them from the danger.

Given the demonstrated risk, safety must take priority. More trees can be planted, the school community could even embrace the servicemen represented by the trees that are lost as part of their annual commemorations.

Urgent action is needed.