Childcare centre danger: Heavy traffic remains free to rush past nearby children

THOUSANDS of children are in daily danger at childcare centres because there are no rules for crash barriers, prompting fears of an incident such as the one which devastated the life of Sophie Delezio.

THOUSANDS of children are in daily danger at childcare centres built on busy roads because there are no rules for crash barriers to protect them and they are not protected by school zone speed limits.

Centres for children as young as two months are being built on roads carrying the city’s heaviest traffic travelling at 70km/h — and nothing has changed to prevent another tragedy like the accident that left Sophie Delezio fighting for life 13 years ago.

As the Australian Childcare Alliance met with NSW planning officials last week to discuss some uniform childcare safety regulations, children’s rights advocates have called for concrete bollards to be placed outside every centre and consideration given to 40km/h speed limits like those outside schools.

Heritage House Childcare fronts Pennant Hills Rd at Thornleigh. Picture: Adam Ward

There is no specific state legislation covering the location and physical safety of the centres.

Decisions on where they are located are left up to local councils, and some, like Parramatta, specifically ban them from safer quiet residential areas because they need to be easily accessed by all forms of public transport.

Children’s rights lawyer Lynda Holden, from the University of Western Sydney, said councils have a duty of care to these children when deciding where to put these centres.

“We put bollards outside shopping centres to protect them from robberies yet we do nothing to protect children at day care centres where they are sometimes left from 6am to 6pm,” Ms Holden said.

“They don’t look after the safety of the children. It’s a big issue and we are going to have more Sophie Delezios. She deserves more than that.”

Australian Childcare Alliance NSW president Nesha O’Neil said there was no way to force centre operators to put up crash barriers even if councils believed that they were necessary.

“The child care regulations end as the children walk through the door into the centre,” Ms O’Neil said.

There are mandatory working-with-children police checks for centre staff and the deferral Education Care Services National Regulation lays down laws for ventilation, natural light, laundries and “unencumbered” indoor and outdoor space — but nothing about the physical security of the children.

Ms O’Neil said the lack of a 40km/h speed limit was an “oversight” by local councils and Roads and Maritime Services.

Sophie Delezio inspired Australians with her courage in recovering from horrific injuries received when an out-of-control vehicle struck her childcare centre in Fairlight in 2003.

“Studies have shown that slowing traffic down keeps people safe and it is an oversight at the moment that there has been no consideration of this at childcare centres,” she said.

Calls for change follow two recent lucky escapes when cars ploughed into childcare centres at Macquarie Park and Breakfast Point earlier this year. Miraculously, no one was injured in either incident.

For Ron Delezio, they revived memories of the day in 2003 when his daughter Sophie, 15, lost both her legs and suffered burns to 85 per cent of her body when a car smashed into the Roundhouse Childcare Centre at Fairlight.

Police and ambulance officers help tend the shocked and injured after a car ploughed into a room full of sleeping infants including Sophie Delezio at the Roundhouse Childcare Centre at Fairlight in 2003.

That centre is now ringed by a crash barrier to protect the children and Manly Council has recently installed concrete barriers outside another preschool centre.

“The thing with a lot of childcare centres is that they are built on main roads because they are cheaper plots of land,” Mr Delezio said.

“There are so many close calls. Unfortunately ours was not a close call and the people who are giving permission for these centres on busy roads obviously haven’t got kids of their own whose lives are at risk.”

He said Sophie, now in year 10 at school, still had three operations a year to help with the burns.

The director of Just for Kids in Epping has called for traffic safeguards in her area. Picture: Peter Clark

Manly Council’s manager of youth and children’s services Sue Verhoek said it was better to be safe than sorry when protecting children.

“We don’t want the worst to happen. We have been through that experience and perhaps that’s why we are more cautious,” she said.

A spokesman for Manly Council said: “Irrespective of the location of a childcare centre, the incident at the Roundhouse demonstrates that even along a quiet street where that was located, a rare but tragic and catastrophic accident can still occur.

“Therefore, all childcare centres should take appropriate advice and caution when designing crash protection measures along its boundaries with a public road.”

Mothers such as Nadia Semmens, with son Loki, are concerns over speed limits and safe pedestrian access to childcare centres. Picture: Richard Dobson

Pardeep Pardeep, with son Harnidh, says families who walk are at the mercy of traffic. Picture: Richard Dobson

Just for Kids in Epping director Melinda Hogan called for similar safeguards in her area.

“Thankfully, we haven’t had anything happen here, but accidents can happen and all it would take is a kid to slip out the gate and run onto the road,” she said.

Mum Pardeep Pardeep said: “Families who walk are at the mercy of the traffic.”

Fellow parent Nadia Semmens agreed, saying: “There should be 40km/h zones put in place because there are lots of kids about.”

A spokesman for the NSW Department of Education said: “Local governments approve the location of childcare centres and external features such as vehicle access, driveway safety and proximity to major roads.”

A spokesman for the Department of Planning and Environment said: “Local councils are responsible for approving development of new childcare centres.”