Mum calls for pedestrian crossings, speed limit changes after son killed walking home from school in Balranald

Finding out she was cancer-free should have been a day of celebration for New Wales mum Kylie Gebert.

Instead, her world came crashing down when she received a call no parent wants to receive.

Her son William Ellis was killed by a car on his way home from school.

The seven-year-old was trying to cross the Sturt Hwy/Market St in Balranald when he was hit in December.

Gebert and her partner Sean Ellis believe their son’s death could have been prevented by pedestrian crossings on the notoriously dangerous stretch of road and are calling for change.

Will was “everyone’s friend”, especially his five sisters – Natalia, Emmy, Portia, Charlie and Lola – who are lost without him.

“He’s been by my side since the day he was born, hugging me,” Gebert told 7NEWS.com.au.

“He told me he loved me every morning.”

The seven-year-old slept every night with his parents in their bed, and they had just helped him get used to sleeping alone when his life was taken from them.

“Hearing him say ‘I love you’ — I just miss him so much,” Gebert said.

“He was just the best,” Ellis added.

“The whole city is broken.”

During her battle with stage three breast cancer, Gebert’s children supported her.

“I would trade places with him for anything … to come back here,” she said.

“He just had so much to live for.

“What could have been, what could have done.”

“We just need to be heard”

After the tragedy, “high pedestrian traffic zone” signs were put up on both sides of the shopping area, but Will’s parents said more needed to be done.

The family moved to Balranold, near the NSW-Victoria border, three years ago and said locals had been calling for better safety on the main road for years.

The 110 km/h speed limit on the freeway drops to 50 km/h across the city, but with no crosswalks, community members — especially children and the elderly — are putting their lives at risk every time they cross the road, Gebert said. .

Gebert and Ellis want to protect other families from the same pain of losing a loved one.

The couple started a petition calling for footpaths to be introduced at the intersections of Market St and Myall St and Market St and We St and the speed limit to be reduced to 40km/h to increase pedestrian safety.

“(All the locals say) this is something that should have been done years ago,” Gebert said.

“It’s busy, our main shopping street.”

A 40km/h speed limit would have increased Will’s chance of survival by 50 per cent, Ellis said.

“We don’t want it to be anyone else,” he said.

“We just need to be heard somehow.”

Transport for NSW told 7NEWS.com.au it was reviewing the speed limit on Market St through the city and said plans were underway to introduce a 40km/h speed limit.

“Transport for NSW is deeply saddened by the death of William Ellis in December 2023,” a spokesman said.

“Regional Director … Alistair Lunn met with William’s parents in Balranold this week and is working closely with them and Balranold Shire Council to improve safety for vulnerable pedestrians crossing the Sturt Hwy, including creating a high pedestrian activity zone .

“We are also looking at other options to improve pedestrian safety for vulnerable pedestrians.”

7NEWS.com.au understands that once the speed limit zone review is formalised, any planned changes will be communicated to the community.