This one is hard to write about, and it should be. A 27-year-old woman died crossing the road at a shopping centre on an ordinary Monday lunchtime. Our thoughts are with her family and friends, and with everyone who was there.
We've thought carefully about whether to cover it at all on a business's blog. We decided to, because the circumstances raise questions that matter to everyone who designs, manages or runs a business at a place where people walk and sit beside moving cars. We've tried to keep to what was reported and to general lessons, and to avoid any judgement about the people involved.
What was reported
According to the ABC, at about 12.45pm on Monday 24 August a woman was hit by a car while walking across a pedestrian crossing at Westfield Knox in Wantirna South. The car then veered into the Martini and Co restaurant, where diners were having lunch. She died at the scene. Police initially said she was a restaurant customer sitting outside, then clarified that she had been walking across the road.
The 51-year-old driver and a passenger were taken to hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening. A person sitting outside the restaurant was assessed by paramedics. Police said they did not believe the incident was intentional. The Major Collision Investigation Unit is investigating, and Scentre Group, which manages the centre, said it was supporting police.
The cause of the crash is a matter for that investigation. We're not going to speculate about it.
Where people and cars meet at a shopping centre
Large suburban shopping centres are built around cars. Ring roads, car park aisles and drop-off zones run right up to entrances, and many centres now have restaurants and cafes facing outwards, with tables set out where people can enjoy the sun. It makes for pleasant places. It also puts people sitting still within a few metres of moving traffic.
Most of the time that works, because drivers are travelling slowly and paying attention. The design question is what happens when, for any reason, a car doesn't stop where it should.
What a barrier can and can't do
It's important to be clear about this. Nothing placed in front of a restaurant would protect someone who is out on the crossing itself. People have to cross roads, and crossings put them in the vehicle's path by design. Protecting pedestrians on crossings is about road design, speed, visibility and driver behaviour, not bollards.
What barriers can do is protect the places where people stay still: outdoor dining areas, seating, queues, play areas and entrances. A line of properly footed steel bollards between a roadway and a dining area means a car that leaves the road for any reason is stopped before it reaches the tables. Planters and decorative fencing are often used for the same job, but unless they are anchored and designed to take an impact, they tend to move.
We haven't seen the site, and we're not suggesting anything about its layout or what might have changed the outcome. These are general principles that apply to any outdoor dining or seating area that sits beside a road.
Questions for centre managers and restaurant operators
- Where do people sit still? Outdoor tables, benches and queues are the places a run-off vehicle does the most harm.
- What lies between them and the nearest road? A kerb and a planter, or something that will stop a car?
- Which way is traffic pointed? Seating at the end of a straight approach, or opposite a crossing or junction, is more exposed than seating beside a slow, curving lane.
- Who controls the space? In a centre, it's usually the centre owner or manager, not the tenant. Outdoor seating changes are best raised with them.
Accidents are most of the risk
Much of what we write about on this blog is deliberate: ram raids, thefts, arson. But plenty of vehicles that end up in shopfronts and dining areas get there by accident. We wrote about a crash into a Glen Waverley bakery in January that narrowly missed customers. Accidental crashes don't come with a warning, a motive or a pattern police can disrupt. That's why protecting the places where people sit and gather is worth doing before anything happens.
A family lost someone at Westfield Knox. If anything useful comes from writing about it, we hope it's that more of the places where people sit beside traffic get looked at with fresh eyes.