Joel Everett, who has a vision impairment and uses the crossing with his son, says many students who live north of the school rely on the crossing.

“I don’t like using the disability card but it’s gotten to the stage where [I have to],” Mr Everett said.

“Over the past couple of years, we’ve had issues with cars not stopping, not slowing down as pedestrians are crossing the children’s crossing.

“I’ve had close shaves personally where people have been on a mobile phone, they’ve been impatient, they’ve been wanting to go while people are still crossing the road.”

MAP: The crossing in Phillip Street behind Bletchington Public School... 

Mr Everett said many of those cars speed through the roundabout at the Anson Street intersection and don’t leave enough time to stop outside the white lines of the crossing.

“It’s not just myself, the Bletchington School community is concerned, I’ve brought it up with the P&C, with the principal, with the deputy, we’re all on the same page.

“Hopefully we can get this resolved before there’s a fatality.”

Mr Everett said police patrolled the school zone and school staff supervised the crossing before and after school but cars continued to speed through.   

“We don’t want any child to be injured or killed,” he said.

Although he is yet to meet with police about the issue, he had contacted Orange City Council to see if traffic-calming devices, such as speed humps, could be installed. 

Council’s Corporate and Community Relations manager Nick Redmond said the traffic committee considered the concerns and conducted research with traffic counters to help police manage the issue.

However, he said while the school’s Matthews Avenue crossing warranted a lollipop man, the numbers in Phillip Street did not show a need for it to be staffed.

He said the council’s road safety officer worked with the school to boost awareness.

“The data from the traffic counters doesn’t support concerns about speeding cars, and may suggest that drivers are responding to these safety messages,” he said.

Central West Police District Inspector Dave Harvey is reminding motorists to slow down to 40km/h in school zones from Monday and said highway patrol and general duties police would be out and about to make sure people complied.

Inspector Harvey said fines and loss of demerit points would apply to anyone caught breaching the reduced speed limit within the sign posted hours. 

“The main message is the safety of the children using the crossing,” he said.

Inspector Harvey said parents or teachers who have concerns about traffic near school crossings can also contact police.