Wednesday, 29 May 2024

Statements on parliamentary committee reports

Economy and Infrastructure Committee

Inquiry into the Impact of Road Safety Behaviours on Vulnerable Road Users

Jess WILSON (Kew) (10:07): I rise to speak on the important work of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee in its inquiry into the safety of vulnerable road users. I had the opportunity to speak on the tabling of this report during the last sitting week, and I did not have time when I spoke last time to thank the committee secretariat for all their work on this important report. A huge amount of work went into combining the submissions, drafting the report and working with the committee members. Can I thank Kerryn, Marianna and Alyssa for all of their work on pulling this together. I know there are a number of fellow members in the chamber today. To the member for Bellarine, who was the chair, thank you, and to the member for Shepparton as the deputy chair, the member for Pascoe Vale, the member for Narracan, the member for Glen Waverley and the member for Tarneit.

We certainly heard from many witnesses throughout the inquiry, and particularly I think, with the opportunity to travel into regional Victoria, to Shepparton, hosted by the member for Shepparton, it was really important to hear about the impact on vulnerable road users on regional roads as well and some of the important recommendations specifically relating to regional roads in the report.

Vulnerable road users are road users that are not in a vehicle, and they are generally considered to include pedestrians, motorcycle riders, cyclists, children under seven years old, the elderly and users of mobility devices. Unfortunately, in the event of a crash they often have little to no protection. This inquiry investigated how we can improve the safety of vulnerable road users, particularly in a post-COVID world, where we have seen aggression on our roads, anecdotally at least, increase over recent years. As I said, the inquiry received over 300 submissions, and we held many public hearings. There are 56 detailed recommendations contained in the report, each relating to different findings about how we can improve road safety right across the state.

In my time today I would like to speak specifically about an important recommendation, recommendation 27, which is very important to my electorate of Kew. Recommendation 27 highlights the need to review the location of pedestrian crossings on arterial roads to ensure that there are regular crossings linked to public transport stops, activity centres and schools. My electorate of Kew is home to more than 30 schools as well as dozens of early childhood kinders and centres right across the electorate. There is one particular stretch of Barkers Road, between Burke Road and Power Street but particularly between Auburn Road and Glenferrie Road, where there are many, many schools. There are MLC and Ruyton and we have an early childhood centre there, and then just up the road we have Carey and Xavier. These schools do not have access to a pedestrian crossing on Barkers Road, and despite the number of vulnerable road users and the amount of traffic, of parents often ferrying children to and from school and it being a main arterial road through our electorate on the border with Hawthorn, there is no pedestrian crossing near the schools that allows for people to safely cross the road.

I raised this issue in this place on 20 June last year after two students from MLC actually raised their concerns with me during the Kew Primary School leaders forum earlier that month. On 10 July last year the minister responded that the Department of Transport and Planning would carry out an investigation and identify appropriate treatment options to enhance pedestrian safety along this section of the road. Unfortunately, earlier this month we had a situation where a mother and her two young children were actually hit by a car while trying to cross this stretch of Barkers Road. Thankfully, both the mother and the child did not sustain life-threatening injuries, but of course this incident highlights the need for greater safety and greater opportunities for pedestrians to safely cross the road on this stretch of road. It also brings to the fore the concerns of the local community.

Can I particularly call out the Faculty cafe owners Michael and Cynthia Pelosi, who have been at the forefront of advocating for this safety change. They own a cafe just opposite MLC, next to the 7-Eleven, and often talk to their local customers about the need for improved road safety for their customers so they are able to cross the road safely to attend their cafe. Just last week the member for Hawthorn and I launched an e-petition for this pedestrian crossing on Barkers Road, and it has already garnered over 550 signatures, both online and at the physical petition hosted at the cafe. I seek for the minister to urgently review this pedestrian crossing and look to recommendation 27 in this report.