THIN BLUE CONCERNMEAGAN MCGREGOR

CONCERNED family members have questioned the police response time to an accident in Swan Hill on Wednesday evening.

But police have defended them-selves, saying they had the full ca-pacity to respond and that all mat-

ters were prioritised appropriately. Witnesses said the accident be-

tween a black hatchback and silver sedan happened at 6pm at the inter-section of Parkside Avenue and Sea Lake-Swan Hill Road.

Bystanders swept the road clear of debris, raising concern from the mother of the hatchback’s driver

about the appropriateness of this due to police not being in attend-ance.

Speaking to The Guardian, the mother, who did not want to be named, was concerned that 50 min-utes after making the call to police they had still not attended.

She said ambulance crews arrived

and took control but one end of the highway was not cordoned off, re-sulting in traffi c continuing to travel towards Swan Hill in an 80km/h zone.

She claimed it was about 51 min-utes before police arrived.

Witnesses at the scene said on-coming traffi c seemed unaware of

the risk despite the vehicles in the middle of the road with obvious damage.

“Many cars failed to slow down and passed the crash site at speeds of at least 60km/h as they dodged the ac-cident scene,” the mother said.

CONTINUED — Page 3

A time for giving

BRENDA Bishop, Lynette Baker, Sharon Hollo-way (manager Swan Hill Target), Nancy Downs and Jan Ellemor from the Swan Hill Uniting Church fellowship group at Target. Uniting Church and Target are asking shoppers to do-nate an unwrapped gift to the tree in front of the Target store in Swan Hill as part of their annual Christmas appeal. Photo: PAMELA BLACKMAN

$1.30www.theguardian.com.au Monday, November 7, 2016

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