TV presenter Liz Cantor’s ‘horrifying’ run-in with ‘eshays’ on the Gold Coast

TV presenter and mum of three Liz Cantor has witnessed a shocking act involving two boys on the Gold Coast Highway, leading her to question: ‘where are their parents?’

The boys look about ten years old, maybe less.

But as young as they are, they are surely old enough to know that playing in traffic on the Gold Coast Highway is a dumb idea. Yet still they take their stupidity one step further, throwing objects at passing cars as they dart in between vehicles, forcing terrified drivers to swerve.

Who knows how much longer these little terrors’ reign of chaos might have continued, and what damage they could have caused, had a driver not stopped them in their dangerous tracks.

The Miami resident captured the incredible scenes after pulling over near the corner of Dawn Parade and the Gold Coast Highway.

“Oi! Oi, you two,” she calls to the boys. The older boy is too busy kicking a Telstra box to listen, but the younger butts in: “Yeah eshay!”

Stills from a video of kids ‘playing in traffic’ on the Gold Coast Highway at Miami.

This is then followed by some indistinct swearing, before he demands, “Why ya filming us?”

The driver, whose reply is a study in perfect parenting, answers: “Why do you think?”

The boys mock her before she continues, “Do you think you could have caused a car crash just then?”

Neither boy seems concerned in the least, with the older offering this pathetic response: “Yeah maybe we coulda bro, but we didn’t, did we?”

Oh boy, indeed.

With the video posted to a local community group page, a resident commented that the boys did almost cause her to crash her car.

“These little (boys) almost caused me to run over them, along Marine Parade. They didn’t even stop, just ran so fast across the road out of nowhere. I almost hit the littlest one. I was so shaken up over it.”

Witness to the Miami mayhem was TV presenter and mum of three Liz Cantor, who questioned where the children’s parents were.

TV personality Liz Cantor

She says she saw the boys playing chicken and dodging cars on the highway, before throwing an object at a car speeding past.

“They were so young, I don’t think they have any real comprehension of just how dangerous their actions were,” says Liz.

“Imagine if there was an accident, those boys’ lives would be ruined forever. Or they could have been hit.

“As a mum, it was horrifying to see. But as angry as I was at those boys, my real question is where are their parents? Boys that young should not be anywhere close to the Highway, let alone creating hazards in it.

“Why aren’t people watching their children? If you are a parent, you are responsible. As dangerous as the actions of the boys were, their brains are not mature enough yet to understand the full ramifications. But their parents should know better.”

And Liz is spot on.

Liz Cantor. Picture: Luke Marsden.

My son is, in my biased opinion, a great kid. He’s kind and compassionate and one hundred per cent not an eshay (thank God).

But geez, he sure can do some stupid things. Which is precisely why we have parental boundaries.

I can track his whereabouts on my phone, he has curfews and he has rules about where he is allowed to ride his bike and when.

It’s not that I don’t trust his intentions or his morals and ethics, I just don’t trust his not yet fully developed frontal lobes, the part of his brain responsible for decision-making and executive function.

And this video proves the parenting problem here is not just a matter of lax supervision, but also a lack of role modelling.

I can not imagine either of my children ever speaking to an adult in the way that these two speak to the person who filmed them.

A bit of cheek I can handle, but absolute disrespect? No way.

Above all, kudos to the resident who pulled these children aside. Who tried to illustrate their poor decisions, who tried to notify their parents on a community page, who still spoke to the boys in a kind but questioning manner.

Pity they aren’t the parents of the boys themselves. But then if they were … this would never have happened.

Originally published as TV presenter Liz Cantor’s ‘horrifying’ run-in with ‘eshays’ on the Gold Coast