SOUTH FREMANTLE residents are demanding action be taken on a dangerous intersection after a 12-year-old boy was nearly killed this week.
Thomas Stevenson was hit by a Mercedes while trying to cross Hampton Road near Scott Street, the impact knocking him unconscious, breaking his leg, taking some skin off his elbow and injuring his shoulder.
Thomas and friend Lucien Thulessen had made it to the median strip, and were waiting for banked-up traffic to clear when a driver in a stopped 4WD waved at them to continue crossing.
But the Mercedes driver had grown impatient with waiting for the traffic, moving into the bus lane to over-take them and clipping Thomas’s leg.
Main Roads says the Mercedes is in the clear, as drivers are allowed to use 100m of the bus lane to get past turning traffic. Police are pointing the finger at the 4WD owner.
• Thomas Stevenson recuperates in hospital.
Locals have been complaining about the crossing for years, as it’s heavily used by people getting to the South Freo shops and children going to Beaconsfield primary school, while motorists are often held up by cars turning into the shops.
Thomas’s dad Craig received the news of his son’s accident while boarding a flight from Adelaide to Perth.
“Luckily there just happened to be a nurse and doctor passing by who helped out,” Mr Stevenson says.
“When I finally got to the hospital they said Thomas was lucky to be alive.”
Lucien’s mum Karina Thulessen wants traffic lights installed, saying someone will get killed.
“There’s only two lanes, so when a car stops to turn right to get to the shops, drivers get impatient and use the bus lane to pass — it’s a recipe for disaster,” she says.
“I live nearby and there have been so many near misses and scrapes it’s unreal.
“The nearest green-man crossing is several hundred metres away at Lefroy Road, so people have no choice but to cross here to get to the shops.”
Cr Jon Strachan alerted council officers to the incident and they’ve initiated talks with Main Roads to install traffic lights. “I live on Daly Street, so I am well aware of the safety issues at that intersection,” he says. “I think stopping right turns into Scott Street would improve things.
by STEPHEN POLLOCK
