Driving home important message

Penrith Council South Ward candidate Sue Day with concerned parents, Shannon and Rebecca Carroll and their children. Photo: Melinda Jane
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Not everyone has a pool, but everyone has a driveway, and that’s why Penrith Council candidate Sue Day is pushing for driveway safety to be a Council focus.

Ms Day is running in South Ward for the upcoming September 10 Council Election, and is working to gain momentum for a driveway safety campaign she said is as important as past successful swim safety campaigns.

“We are the first ones to acknowledge that driveway safety is a complex issue and there is no single solution,” she said.

“But at the Local Government level, the recommended guidelines and programs, if supported, may help in a reduction in the incidence of driveway-related trauma.

“There is no doubt that any measures are not substitutes for active and close supervision of small children, however, promoting awareness programs like these can play an important part.”

Between 2001 and 2010, an average of seven children were killed each year and 60 were seriously injured after being hit or run over by a motor vehicle at home, according to the Bureau of Infrastructure Transport and Regional Economics.

Unfortunately, a child known to South Penrith residents Shannon and Rebecca Carroll, became one of those sad statistics, when a father ran over his two-year-old son in their own driveway.

Since then, driveway safety has been at the forefront of their minds and, along with Ms Day, they believe a program needs to be implemented to reduce the chance of other families going through similar anguish.

The first step is the distribution of a flyer to help educate parents and provide strategies on driveway safety.


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