Cranbourne crash: Teacher tells of strong girl, with ‘the sweetest smile’

Image: Channel Nine

The principal of a teenage girl killed with her mother in a horror smash outside her school has told Neil Mitchell of a “strong girl” with “the sweetest smile”.

And he also revealed he had previously raised concerns about speed limits on the stretch of road on which they died.

Full interview below

Xinyu Yuan and her mum had just left parent-teacher interviews at Lighthouse Christian College when they were fatally struck by a car last night.

Their Toyota sedan was hit by a Holden Commodore as they left a car park on the South Gippsland Highway at Cranbourne East about 7.20pm.

Principal Jacob Matthew says the Year 8 student had a bright future ahead of her.

“She had all the good comments, teachers were saying how she had improved in her maths and English,” Mr Matthew said.

“And then out the door, and this car hits her.”

Mr Matthew said he had asked for the speed limit to be reduced in recent years, but the request was declined.

“We had asked for an 80km/h zone. It shouldn’t increase travel by more than half a minute,” he said.

“Down the road is a slower zone, and further north.

Click PLAY for the full interview

“Hopefully we will see something out of this situation.”

Investigations have started as to whether excessive speed may be to blame for the latest fatal crash.

Police have issued a major road safety warning following six deaths in six days.

The deaths are the fifth and sixth on the Victoria’s roads since Friday.

Police are warning that at that rate, the annual road toll will hit 300 by the end of the year.graffiti

ROAD TOLL

THIS YEAR: 150

SAME TIME LAST YEAR: 179