Yesterday, just before midnight, a group of four mates made it safely to a pedestrian refuge on the Princes Highway before making a dash for it during a break in traffic.
But the 16-year-old delayed and was hit by a car unable to stop as it drove through the intersection on a green light.
He was thrown metres into the air, coming to a stop 40 metres down the road.
“We heard a really loud thump, bang,” one Kirrawee resident said.
“Unusual sound so we went out and had a look and this poor man was sprawled on the road.”
His friends ran to the 16-year-old’s aid but he had suffered major head trauma and internal injuries and was rushed to St George Hospital in a critical condition.
Paramedics treated the 20-year-old P-plate driver for shock.
While investigations are ongoing police say there’s nothing at this stage to suggest the driver was doing anything wrong.
She returned a negative roadside drug and alcohol test.
Simpson raised concerns about the safety of the pedestrian crossing itself.
“A six-lane road and the lights don’t go for the pedestrian to go all the way across, they stop, you have to stop in the middle and there is a lag between so people take the risk and go, so it’s really dangerous,” she said.