Student acts fast to save child

Nathan Warren, 17, of Mount Direction, said he had been at the Margaret Street bus stop opposite the college on Wednesday when he saw a boy being clipped and pushed by a school bus.

``I was just standing there with a group of my mates and the kid was just walking along close to the edge of the footpath and the bus came in there pretty quickly,'' Nathan, a year 12 student, said yesterday.

``The bus just clipped him and pushed him forward and I just grabbed him out of the way.

``I don't think he even knew what happened.''

The incident occurred the same day as an 11-year-old boy was hit by a truck after he left a school bus at Bridgewater. He remains in a critical condition.

Earlier this month after a 13-year-old girl was killed by a car in similar circumstances in the Derwent Valley.

Nathan said he did not know the boy, who he described as a primary school pupil, but said he was walking with what he thought might have been his younger sister.

He said the boy appeared to be so shocked about being pulled out of the way of the bus that he doesn't seem to know what could have occurred.

And Nathan said he did not believe the bus driver realised what had happened.

Nathan said the busy Margaret and Brisbane Street intersection was notorious and he had seen a few near misses with other students.

He said he would like to see the area reduced to a 40 km/h school zone.

College acting principal Dianne Freeman said staff patrol an area nearby but she believed a barrier, similar to those at taxi ranks, would be a good idea to prevent students going on to the road.

She supported the idea of a 40 km/h school zone.