Your urgent support is needed to protect the lives of our children by asking North Sydney Council to install a crash-proof safety barrier or row of bollards outside one of the biggest and busiest childcare centres in the area, OAC Childcare Centre in Neutral Bay. The centre is positioned at the end of a T-Junction exposed to traffic heading towards it and is at serious risk in the event of an out-of-control vehicle crashing into it and injuring the children.

North Sydney Council recently removed all parking outside 'Only About Children' Childcare Centre located at 11 Lindsay St in Neutral Bay making it a No Stopping Zone and because of this new parking restriction the centre is now completely unprotected and directly exposed to traffic coming down Bydown St. A protective barrier of some sort should've been installed there from the start years ago but it wasn't. This is obviously a major oversight by council that needs to be rectified now before something happens.

The recent incident of an out-of-control car narrowly missing hitting people then crashing through the wall onto Balmoral Beach highlights the reality and urgency to ensure that action is taken to prevent something like this happening again. 

Some of you may remember the terrible incident that occurred at Fairlight in 2003 when 2 toddlers were badly injured when they were trapped under a burning car which crashed through the Roundhouse Childcare Centre in Fairlight. Five other Toddlers were also injured from the car crashing into the centre. The family of one of the badly injured toddlers have since become activists for victims that have suffered similar accidents.

There has unfortunately also been numerous incidents involving out-of-control cars ploughing into schools since then and it's truly shocking how many have occurred in just Sydney alone over the years.

One such incident happened at a primary school in Greenacre in 2017 where an out-of-control car smashed through a classroom wall sadly killing 2 children and seriously injuring 5 students and separately, another car also crashed into a preschool in Oakhurst in 2017 (fortunately no injuries). In November 2018 an out-of-control car also crashed into Eastwood Public School.

Elsewhere in Melbourne only 4 months ago, a man crashed his car into a high school and was critically injured.

Further away in the UK in July 2023 there was a tragic incident involving a car crashing into a school that saw 16 students injured and sadly 1 child died.  

Closer to home there was also the terrible incident that occurred at nearby Neutral Bay Primary School in 2019 that resulted in a car hitting a man and a small child on the pedestrian crossing outside the school at 9am in the morning and the car then careered out-of-control clipping 3 parked cars and slammed into a building nearby.

Another incident on Ben Boyd Rd in Neutral Bay just last year in 2022 saw an out of control truck crash into the ground floor of an apartment block.

ADDITIONAL: Since starting this petition there has been yet another incident of an out-of-control vehicle crashing into a place, this time a car driven by a person who just got their P-plates, crashed through a wall at a busy cafe in Bankstown on 4/11/23 hitting people dining inside and in a terrible accident the very next day on 5/11/23 5 people killed when an out-of -control car smashed into a beergarden at a pub in regional Victoria. 

It sounds unbelievable but these kinds of accidents happen a lot! Often the driver has either suffered a medical episode or simply accelerated rapidly rather than braking that has led to them crashing into a building like a school.

When you look at this it's scary how many incidents involving out-of-control vehicles crashing into schools and other buildings have occurred. It's something we don't (like to) think about but we shouldn't take any chances to wait until another serious incident occurs.

If things stay the same and nothing is done by North Sydney Council to fix this issue then the risk of something like this happening again is there. This is an accident waiting to happen so we as a community and our council must act now to prevent it before it's too late.

By signing this petition you can make a difference to ensure that North Sydney Council take immediate action to protect the lives of the children who attend the OAC Childcare Centre, Neutral Bay by installing a crash-proof safety barrier or a row of bollards to remove the risk of a serious incident occurring like it has many times before.

(Video and Images of vehicles on Bydown St approaching the T-Junction where OAC is located)

Video of vehicle approaching OAC Neutral Bay

2 images below showing cars approaching OAC Neutral Bay since the removal of parking outside the centre and how exposed the building is now to oncoming traffic 

3 images below of previous unrestricted parking outside OAC Neutral Bay showing where cars were able to park outside the centre forming some sort of barrier protection (Google Maps)