Marryatville High School crossing trees pruned after father’s plea
The council was asked to fix a tree obscuring a traffic light after the Marryatville crash. It took going to the Premier in the face of bureaucratic roadblocks for it to be cut back.
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Before dawn, the father of Marryatville High student Amity Nield was taking photographs of the crossing where one of four traffic lights was obscured by a tree, the day after his daughter and her friend were struck by a truck that allegedly ran a red signal.
In the hours that followed, The Advertiser contacted multiple local and state government agencies about the tree.
Asked a series of questions including when the tree had last been inspected, Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Council said: “As the matter is currently being investigated by SA Police and the alleged offender has been bailed to appear in court, the council will not be making any comment at this time.”
Then asked specifically what it would now do about the tree, the council did not respond.
SA Police then also said it could not comment on what should be done with the tree “as the matter is now before the courts”.
Only after The Advertiser finally asked Peter Malinauskas’s office was action taken, with the Premier late on Thursday ordering the Department for Infrastructure and Transport to remove the branch obscuring the traffic light.
The department separately told The Advertiser an audit would be completed in coming weeks to see if red-light or speed cameras were warranted at the site. Pictures taken on Thursday evening appeared to show the branches near the crossing where two students suffered serious injuries on Wednesday had been cut back.
Amity, 16, was seriously injured when the truck allegedly ploughed through the crossing just after 8am on Wednesday, striking her and her friend, a male student, also 16, leaving him in a critical condition. A third student pulled back at the last moment and narrowly avoided being hit. Dashcam footage showed the lights had been red for at least four seconds.
The girl’s father, Simon, made an emotional visit to the scene 24 hours later to assess the traffic lights that left his daughter in hospital.
7NEWS reported her injuries included a broken collarbone and jaw. Amity’s father told a reporter at the scene early on Thursday that he contacted the council regarding the tree branch and a twisted sign.
Her mother later told The Advertiser Amity would be OK but declined to comment further.
Vision from 7NEWS taken from the driver’s seat of a vehicle at 8am on Thursday morning, the same time of the accident the previous day, shows glaring light from the eastern sun as traffic approaches the crossing on Kensington Rd, travelling outbound from the city.
The traffic lights are shadowed by the bright light as the driver heads through the crossing, but are still visible.
One parent with a child at the school said “more needed to be done” to avoid incidents on busy Kensington Rd, calling for better safety measures to be put in place.
The truck driver, 60, who was not injured, was arrested by Major Crash officers on Wednesday and charged with two counts of causing injury by dangerous driving. He was released on bail and will appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court on June 7.
Private music teacher at Marryatville High School Lenny Regione said the tone was sombre around the school after the incident.
“It’s pretty awful,” he said. “For the parents, for the students – and for the students themselves – the ones who saw it and the friends of the kids.”
The electric bass and double bass teacher said the students at the high school were “good kids” with “good hearts”.
The incident has rattled many of the students, he said, with some unable to bear attending school today.
Mr Regione did not teach the students involved but heard they were good kids.
Meanwhile, teachers wearing brightly-coloured vests were outside Marryatville High School in force on Thursday morning, directing students to enter the school safely and asking them how they were.
A Marryatville High School parent, who asked to remain anonymous after a direction from the school requesting parents not speak to media, said there were near-crashes often at school drop off.
“I was almost in a crash myself yesterday,” she said.
The parent, who was picking up her son – a student at the school – stopped to allow students to cross. She said a car behind her pulled out to overtake her, almost hitting the students.
“They need to do something about this,” she said.
Minister delivers update on struck students
Education Minister Blair Boyer said he was still in shock after the accident.
“I think I speak on behalf of the whole of the South Australian community when I say we are still in shock with the events of yesterday,” he said.
“Our thoughts are with the students and their families, as well as the entire school community that is hurting.”
Mr Boyer confirmed wellbeing support was provided to students and would continue for as long as required.
The minister told ABC Radio on Thursday morning the government would look into improving the safety of crossings after the two school children “doing the right thing” were hit.
Mr Boyer said he believed one of the victims had non-life-threatening injuries, while the other remained in a “really, really serious” condition.
The minister said the government would take anything that comes to light from current crash investigations into consideration when looking at improving crossings, but said it’s difficult when drivers don’t follow the rules.
“We’ll look very closely at whether there might be any recommendations flowing out of that,” he said.
It has since been revealed that students at Marryatville High School will be exempt from NAPLAN due to the distraction from the traumatic event.
“We’ll consider anything we can do to make our crossings on busy roads safer, but it is tough when you’re dealing with driver behaviour like that.”
Mr Boyer referred to the incident as “every parent and grandparent’s worst nightmare”.
The driver of the truck, a 60-year-old man, was not injured and was arrested by Major Crash officers and charged with two counts of causing injury by dangerous driving.
He was bailed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on June 7.
Dashcam footage shows the traffic light was red for at least four seconds before the truck entered the pedestrian crossing and hit the two students in front of several witnesses.
After the accident, Superintendent Narelle Kameniar said police were investigating whether the truck, which was delivering goods, ran a red light.
“It looks like the students were crossing at the pedestrian crossing and the truck may have gone through a red light,” she said at a press conference on Wednesday morning.
Supt Kameniar said police would allege three of the four traffic lights at the crossing were “clearly visible” despite debris and fallen branches from Monday’s wild weather.
“There is no reason why that light should not have been seen by that driver.”
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