Petition and safety appeal call for school safety measures to be reassessed
In the wake of the Banksia Road tragedy, there have been calls for school safety measures to be reconsidered. Last week, a petition was launched and now the NSW Opposition has asked for an assessment of traffic in and around schools.
The Express
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In the wake of the Banksia Road tragedy, there have been calls for school safety measures to be reconsidered.
Last week, a petition, that now has 1300 signatures, called for all cars to be banned from school grounds and on Sunday, the NSW Opposition appealed for a statewide assessment of traffic in and around schools.
“There are a lot of safety measure around schools already, but given the tragedy we need to look at this with a fresh set of eyes,” Opposition education spokesman and Lakemba state Labor MP said.
“This is not bollards, it’s not gates. We should look at raised garden beds, trees, better signage — what are the things we can do to make sure that they are safe as they can be possibly be?”
The Department of Education would not provide figures on how many accidents had occurred on school grounds.
But statistics from NSW Transport show that 63 children, aged under 17, have been injured in active school zones over the past three years.
Of these figures, only 15 have been seriously injured and there has been no fatalities in state school zones since 2013.
Last week a petition went one step further than Mr Dib’s calls, asking for cars to be banned on all public school grounds.
Sarah Elkordi started the petition after her niece was injured in the Banksia Road Public School crash.
Ms Elkordi said that while she thinks many would not agree with her, she believes that to avoid a car going into a classroom again, all cars need to be banned from public school grounds.
“It was an accident, but if we can eliminate this from happening again it’s definitely worthwhile considering,” she said.
“You can’t smoke on school grounds but you can drive a car. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Police address media after the Banksia Road tragedy
On the day of the accident, Isaac Tayba echoed these comments.
Mr Tayba, who rushed to the school where his nephew is a Year 3 student, said it was a tragedy to see what happened.
“Apparently I think she (the driver) drove in there and instead of maybe pressing the brake, she might have hit the accelerator but for me there should be no cars in the school.
“There’s no excuse — no mother or anyone should be driving a car in the school.”
Mr Dib urged people to allow time for the police investigation, judicial and coronial inquest and asked all drivers to renew their commitment to keeping kids safe.
Vow to recover from tragedy
In the darkest of days, compassion and strength have triumphed — with the community coming together to embrace a broken school.
At 9.45am last Tuesday, a Toyota Kluger crashed into a Year 3 classroom — forever changing the lives of hundreds of schoolchildren, staff and families of Banksia Road Public School.
Eight-year-old Jihad Darwiche and his schoolfriend, who can’t be legally identified, were both killed.
Three other girls were treated for serious injuries and have since been discharged from The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
Despite their own grief, 53 out of 54 staff returned to the Greenacre school last Wednesday, to be there for their shattered students.
“This has been an unbelievable tragedy but what we have seen is the very best of our community,” Opposition education spokesman Jihad Dib said. “The spirit that has been shown by Banksia Road is a credit to the whole teaching profession.”
Jihad Darwiche, a “boy that was loved by everyone”, was laid to rest last Thursday and a funeral was held for his schoolfriend yesterday.
In the days after the tragedy, flowers, teddy bears and notes mounted outside the school. Some were left by friends and family — and some by strangers who felt compelled to do something in a hopeless situation.
Lauren Danilo, 23, lives just two streets away from the school. She does not have any children at the school, but laid flowers for many of the people in her street who do. “I live in the community and I’m heartbroken,” Ms Danilo said.
“I don’t know. I can’t bring them back, I can’t do anything, but I can be there to support them and anything the community needs.”
Compassion too has been shown for the driver, widowed mother of four Maha Al-Shennag, who will face Bankstown Local Court on November 29.
On the day of his son’s funeral, Jihad’s father Raed Darwiche recorded a message urging the community to forgive Ms Al-Shennag.
“Forgive her, it’s an honest mistake — it could’ve happened to any one of us. It could happen to him, happen to me, happen to you,” Mr Darwiche said through a translator.
Father of eight-year-old killed in car crash forgives driver
Through her lawyer, Ms Al-Shennag said she was grateful for Mr Darwiche’s comments and wanted to “apologise with all of her heart” to the victims, their families and the community.
Mr Dib said in the face of an “unimaginable” tragedy, the community has shown incredible resilience.
“At a really difficult time everyone has banded together and that says a lot about the community and our society as a whole,” Mr Dib said.
If you would like to donate to the families affected by the Banksia Road tragedy, visit this Go Fund Me page.