Glenwood boy hit by speedster in notorious Manning Road
The Glenwood community are fed up with weekly accidents attributed to speeding and demand traffic calming on the busy Lena Ahrens (Manning) Road after a school boy fell victim to a hit and run last week.
A MOTHER’S worst fears were realised last week when her teenager son was injured in a hit-and-run incident on the notorious Lena Ahrens (Manning) Road while walking home from school around 5.30pm on Thursday, 21 April.
“Dylan was walking home on Manning Road near the Rhodes intersection. He had just crossed the road when a car came past at such high speed that it hit his bag with such force he was spun around and literally out of one of his school shoes before falling to the ground. Thankfully his head was cushioned by his bag,” explained Kim Egling, Dylan’s mother.
Egling said her 15-year-old son, a Glenwood High School learner was so shocked after the incident that he got up and ran to a friend’s home close by after realising the driver of the car had driven off. “He got there and didn’t even realise his shoe was missing,” she said.
“They were clearly speeding and didn’t even stop to see if he was okay. There is no way they didn’t know they hit him. His bag took the force of the hit and tore. His blazer was also torn,” Egling said.
The outraged mother is trying to find the speedster who was driving the silver or white sedan. “We are so blessed. It could have been worse. We are not letting this go and have opened a case and are looking for footage to identify this speedster,” she said.
Dylan was taken to hospital were he spent four days undergoing MRI and other scans, to ensure he had no serious injuries. The sporty youngster has to wear a neck brace, has tissue damage to his neck and muscles and cannot play sport until the swelling goes down.
“Driving between Glenmore and Glenwood, is frightening, especially on Manning Road. I’m surprised there are no speed humps on the busy road because people just fly up and down.
“Something needs to be done to prevent any other incidents, Dylan was saved by nothing short of God’s grace the next child might not be so lucky. Even Nicolson Road has more robots for people to slow down and stop. Why can’t they put more robots on Manning?” Egling asked.
Guy Perrins, a community activist who has been lobying for more traffic calming on Lena Ahrens Road shared Egling’s concerns. “My biggest fears have now materialised. This incident could have been avoided if the traffic authorities had heeded our community’s call for traffic calming. Again I ask, what are the authorities going to do? Are we waiting for the death of an innocent person or family before this gets attention?” he asked.
“Last month there was an accident every week on Manning Road which included with two bad accidents, one resulting in the eventual death of the driver,” saidPerrins. He said he had an email trail over the last few years appealing to the Road Traffic authorities to assist in traffic calming for Lena Ahrens which seems to have an accident rate of at least one per week. “Most of these accidents are due to reckless and negligent drivers,” he said.
