'Dangerous' West Tamworth crossing prompts Kylie Pollard to call for safety review of Bridge and Crown streets

Kylie Pollard said there are daily near-misses at the Bridge Street intersection, where cars turn right onto the highway from Crown Street and drive across the pedestrian crossing. Her kids are among the many who use the crossing to walk home.

Traffic signals allow cars to turn right while pedestrians, who have the right of way, cross the busy road at the same time.

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"When we're crossing there, [cars are] looking at oncoming traffic to see if they can turn ahead of the lights, not at the fact that there's children crossing," she said.

Motorists often ignore the rules and enter the walkway before it is clear, but a turning light would solve the problem, Mrs Pollard said.

"Most other traffic lights in Tamworth have a turning light where there's a pedestrian light. But for this one that's in a school zone ... nothing."

Her son Ari, a Year 1 student, was missed by centimetres a month ago. The car was a "big SUV" and the driver wouldn't have seen her son until too late, she said.

Mrs Pollard has approached Tamworth Regional Council (TRC), the state government and road organisations to assess the intersection for safety.

"In years to come I'll be wanting my son and daughter to be walking home on their own, and at the moment it's not safe," she said.

"It's not even safe with me there, that definitely won't be an option for quite some time and it should be.

"Because the green man is there and you're trying to teach them the right thing to do but it's unsafe for them to use it.

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"I just feel at a loss as to where to go with this. Is it going to take a child being hit by a car and seriously injured or killed for them to change it?

"Because I know that that would change things immediately and I don't want that to happen."

A spokesperson for TRC said the road is a "signalised" road and the state government's responsibility. Transport for NSW did not respond before this article went to press.

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