The Railway, Tram and Bus Union has slammed authorities for failing to improve the safety of the Kogarah bus stop where Aneri Patel, 16, died on Monday.
Secretary Chris Preston said the union ‘‘is shocked that no action was taken to make the stop more secure following the previous incident at that location’’.
‘‘This bus stop can be challenging for bus drivers as it services a number of routes, yet only one bus at a time can pull up at the stop,’’ Mr Preston said.
‘‘The union calls on the government or the council to move the bus stop to a safer location or at the very least install bollards or fences to improve the safety of the travelling public and ensure a tragedy like this does not happen again.’’
NSW Centre for Road Safety general manager Marg Prendergast said the centre would hold urgent talks with Kogarah Council ‘‘to make sure we take every possible action to stop this from happening again’’.
‘‘We will have a safety review of this busy intersection and station precinct,’’ she said.
A Kogarah Council spokeswoman said arrangements were being made for a meeting with representatives of the RMS, as the principal roads authority, and the NSW Centre for Road Safety as soon as possible.
She said earlier today that following the fatality in March 2007, representatives of Kogarah Council met representatives of the RMS (formally RTA) and NSW Police.
‘‘The Coroner’s determination that the accident was the result of driver error was noted and accordingly it was agreed by those representatives that no feasible engineering solutions would have prevented that crash occurring,’’ she said.
‘‘The representatives further agreed that the RMS would undertake a speed limit review in the vicinity of that accident.
‘‘On Wednesday 23 May 2007 the speed limit along Railway Parade was subsequently reduced from 60kph to 50kph.
‘‘No recommendations for any further actions by Kogarah Council in response to the accident were made by the Coroner, RMS or NSW Police.’’
Do you think the bus stop should be moved?
