Stay safe this holiday season

With Christmas just weeks away, the need to take care on our roads is evidenced by the stories on road accidents in this issue of the Helensburgh & District News.

While we may think we are safe from the city rush and the tempers of impatient drivers, danger is never far away. And while this is one of the few areas in Sydney where children can ride their bikes and play on the roads, safety messages still need to be reinforced.

Three children were playing on an embankment just metres from where the Porsche detailed in our Page 3 story came to rest. They were excited by what they saw, but they were also terrified. It could have been much, much worse.

And the accident in Helensburgh on Melbourne Cup Day where a 10-year-old boy was thrown from a ute and is now in Westmead Children’s Hospital on life support shows accidents can happen anywhere, anytime, even in a 50km/hr zone, only a few steps from where the family lived. Tragic, but avoidable.

Leave the car at home when attending neighbourhood Christmas parties, write down the licence plates of speeding cars, take the keys from your friends and relatives who insist they are all right to drive, phone the police if you hear hoons out doing donuts. Do your bit to keep our community safe.

The team at Helensburgh & District News wishes you a safe and happy Christmas. On a personal note, it has been a privilege and a pleasure to edit this newsletter in such a vibrant, talented, interesting community for the past 12 months.

Heather Smith, Editor