'I just screamed': Playground design blamed after child hit by e-bike

Little Ella is lucky to be alive.

She was playing at her local playground, when in a split second moment, she stepped into the path of an e-bike

"I just screamed, she just screamed," Ella's mum, Alyca Mahon, told A Current Affair.

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Ella's parents, Elyse and Nick, say planning madness is to blame.

"As a mother when I get to a park I think 'righto, what do I have to watch here.' 

"Not once did I think a bike was gonna take her out."

The marine-themed playground in Newcastle, NSW is a pre-schoolers dream -  perfect for hours of imaginative play.

But on one side is a body of water, and on the other is a shared pathway, used by cyclists and e-bikes.

That's where she stepped into the bike's path - resulting in a lump on her head.

"I instantly thought the worst seeing that lump," Alyce said. 

"Kai made a comment, 'Is Ella going to go to heaven, mum?'

"Nick and I just looked at each other and I thought, 'Hold it together Alyce, hold it together'."

Ella was rushed to hospital.

"They pretty much said we'll strip her down and check her body first, because even the bike rider said, 'Check her back, I hit her back', but there was no mark anywhere," Alyce said.

Locals say the accident was bound to happen.

"All of sudden there's a bike flying through. It's pretty unsafe," local resident David told A Current Affair.

"Unfortunately they all think they're on the Tour De France," another local resident said. 

Nick and Alyse don't blame the bike rider, but they are urging all cyclists to slow down, fearing it's only a matter of time before someone is badly hurt.

"It's about how do we prevent it from happening again. I knew he was remorseful, I knew he accidentally did it," Ella's dad, Nick Mahon, told A Current Affair.

"He's glad to hear that Ella's going to be OK."

"One of thing that's alarming with this about the design of this particular park is the relatively short space between the edge of the playground and the footpath or bike way where there's obviously a fair bit of traffic," Chair of the Australian Road Safety Foundation, Russell White, told A Current Affair. 

While the design of the park can be improved, Russell believes the responsibility is with the rider.

"There are increases happening from an injury risk standpoint, not only for the e-bike or scooter user, but for other vulnerable road users as well," he said.

"Clearly we have to do something more proactive to try and address that issue."

Ella's feeling better, and the painful bump on her head is healing well.

Alyce and Nick are calling for immediate action.

They want the Council to implement better signage, a fence to separate the playground from the bike path, or better yet - for e-bikes to only be allowed on roads.

"If nothing's done, you're looking at a guarantee that something like this will happen again. What do they say then?" said Nick.

"Something needs to happen before something bad happens," said Alyce.