Be careful out there, police warn, as roads get busy

Police are cracking down on pedestrian and driver behaviour after four people, including two children, were struck by cars in Wyndham in less than a week.

With roads and shopping centre car parks getting busier in the lead-up to Christmas, police are warning road users to take care.

Westgate road policing advisor Acting Senior Sergeant Fiona Waters said that in each of the four accidents, which occurred between November 14 and 20, it was lucky the drivers had been driving slowly.

She said it was disturbing that two children had been hit after running on to roads. Although they were hospitalised, neither suffered serious injury.

In the first incident, a four-year-old ran on to the road in Hoppers Crossing.

The driver, who had been travelling at a low speed, managed to take evasive action, hitting the child with a side mirror. In Point Cook, a two-year-old received minor injuries after running into the path of a car.

“If the vehicles had been travelling at a higher speed, the results could have been much worse,” Acting Senior Sergeant Waters
said.

An elderly person who walked in front of a car in Hoppers Crossing was hospitalised with minor injuries.

In a separate incident, a distracted driver knocked over a person who was using a pedestrian crossing at Werribee Plaza.

“Drivers and pedestrians just need to slow down and take a bit more notice of what is going on around them, especially around shopping centres and schools,” Acting Senior Sergeant Waters said.

“With school holidays coming up and people out Christmas shopping, there are going to be a lot more people out and about.