The service ended at the end of last year after Northern Grampians Shire Council cut a $65,000 allocation to school crossing supervisors.

Mr Lynch said there had already been some near misses between students and vehicles.

“An accident is inevitable – we are risking life,” he said.

“This is the main access road to Stawell – Patrick Street is not a side street.

“Some drivers stop, some do not.

“It’s very confusing and very haphazard.

“Drivers want to the right thing but the right thing is really unclear.”

Mr Lynch said if the school could not have a crossing supervisor back he would like to see a pedestrian crossing put in its place.

He praised most motorists for the care they have taken in the past week.

“The motorists have been supportive and extra cautious,” he said.

“However I’m really concerned a motorist who sees the children and stops could be a rear ended.”

Mr Lynch said one of the main issues was the bus stop for the Stawell town bus was located across the road from the school on Patrick Street.

“There would be 15 to 20 kids crossing to catch that bus at night,” he said.

“What bothers me is there is four to five primary school children who get off that bus at night and cross Patrick Street.”

He said WorkSafe has been notified of the issue.

VicRoads has agreed to fund the supervision of school crossings in the shire as part of a six month trial.

Stawell’s St Patrick’s Primary School, Stawell Primary School, Stawell West Primary School and St Arnaud Primary School are all part of the trial.

Mr Lynch said he also had concerns with this trial.

“What happens in the seventh month?” he said.

Northern Grampians environment and community protection team leader Daryl Schuyler said council was working to ensure safer crossing at all of the municipality’s schools.

Mr Schuyler said council had made an inquiry to Public Transport Victoria to move the town bus stop outside the secondary college to the college side of the road.

He said the secondary college’s response to the crossing situation was disappointing.

“We had meetings in Stawell and St Arnaud in December and had VicRoads representatives there,” he said.

He said while the St Arnaud meeting was well attended, only a small number of people attended the Stawell meeting.

“We were all there and ready to try and take people’s ideas on, we had maps printed out and were looking at alternatives for the school crossing so the safety around the schools were not diminished without the crossing supervisor,” he said.

“The principal of the secondary college did come to the meeting in December, I believe he came and looked around and left again.

“No one else from the school came, none of the school council came.

“Nobody that wasn’t directly employed by the Education Department was there.”

Mr Schuyler said council was working to ensure the safety of students in the shire.

“We’re not going to contribute financially but we’re not walking away from our responsibility,” he said.

“We’re running with this trial, we’re still involved, we’re all constantly having discussions, we’re working towards making this happen.”