Bus services and SA Police prescence unchaged for Victor Harbor Schoolies 2024

Last year’s Schoolies tragedy has more parents choosing to chauffeur their children to and from the celebrations - as organisers confirm no extra buses to be added to the free service.

With Schoolies just around the corner, more parents are deciding to chauffeur their children to and from the celebrations in an effort to keep them safe on the roads.

But it comes with a confirmation there will be no extra free buses on to help ferry students around.

It follows the tragic death of Charlie Stevens at Schoolies last year after he flagged down his killer’s car after waiting for a Schoolies shuttle bus.

Encounter Youth CEO, Nigel Knowles said the bus provision has not changed for the “last decade” but encouraged school leavers to take advantage of the free service.

“It’s the same extensive service that adequately caters for this cohort once again this year,” Mr Knowles said.

“It’s a tried and tested direct road safety engagement strategy to reduce the impact on our roads.”

Shuttles provided by Encounter Youth in partnership with the state government will operate across five different routes transporting Schoolies attendees between Encounter Bay and Goolwa.

Buses will also be available from Adelaide Central Bus Station to major Schoolies accommodation venues in Encounter Bay and Port Elliott on Friday with return services available on Monday.

While police will be more active in the Fleurieu area for the duration of the festival, SA Police Operation Schoolies Commander Superintendent, Joanna Howard said this year’s police presence will also not increase from last year’s provision.

“We have always had a strong extra police presence for Schoolies, it’s about taking care of our school leavers while they are down there and being mindful that there is anywhere up to 3,000 or 4,000 influx of people in an area and so we provide the adequate community safety protection,” Ms Howard said.

“We’re very comfortable with the road safety presence that we have got in the Fleurieu this weekend.”

Ava Johnson 18 (driving) and Sophie Green 18 getting ready to go to Schoolies at Victor Harbor. Picture: Brett Hartwig

School-leavers are looking forward to this year’s Schoolies Festival, but there’s a prediction of smaller attendance numbers and an increased parental presence.

These concerns have been raised following the tragic death of SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens’ son, 18-year-old Charlie Stevens, at last year’s Victor Harbor Schoolies Festival.

Charlie was celebrating the end of his schooling years with some friends when he was struck and killed by 18-year-old driver Dhirren Singh Randhawa on November 17, 2023.

Recent graduates, Ava Johnson and Sophie Greene say of their year level group of 103 students, only around 25 will be taking part in the event, and they both think it’s “probably got something to do with last year’s accident”.

In previous years, their school had most of the year 12 students going along to Schoolies, while this year there were only three groups, says 18-year-old Ava.

“It’s going to be a lot smaller [this year], at least from our school, it’s going to be about half of who would normally be going,” Ava said.

“We’ve got 103 people [in our year], but only 25 max are heading down. A lot of them are going to Melbourne or doing a trip like that instead, but some aren’t doing anything at all.”

Ava says she was planning on driving to Victor Harbor herself, but after what happened with Charlie Stevens last year, parents are not too keen on the young drivers taking to the road themselves.

Ava Johnson 18 (driving) and Sophie Green 18 getting ready to go to Schoolies at Victor Harbor.16th November 2024 Picture: Brett Hartwig

“Our parents are all driving us down,” she said. “[Our parents] are taking the day off work and I think there’s three parents driving down, so we’ll all load up in the cars and they’ll drive the way down there and drive back after.”

Ava’s dad, Darrin Johnson, will be doing the pick-up run for some of the girls and said fellow parents had voiced their concerns about the trip along some notoriously dangerous stretches of road, regardless of last year’s incident.

“I have seen other parents worried about it … certainly parents have been talking about it,” Mr Johnson said.

“These are young drivers, they’re going to be excited about it and they’re going to be tired on the way home, so not the best combination for driving.

Ava Johnson 18 (driving) and Sophie Green 18 getting ready to go to Schoolies. Picture: Brett Hartwig

“The parents have developed a bit of trust with this group, but certainly some ground rules have been put in place; just stick together.”

Ava and Sophie said if there was some advice they could give to their fellow Schoolies, it was to “stay in groups, make use of the free transport services available, and make sensible decisions.”

Schoolies Festival will begin on November 22-24 and be held at the Victor Harbor Esplanade.