Wednesday, 5 February 2025

 Jess WILSON (Kew) (10:08): Today I rise to speak on the Economy and Infrastructure Committee inquiry into the impact of road safety behaviours on vulnerable road users. This was an inquiry that I sat on in 2023 and looked at the impact of road safety, particularly post COVID, on vulnerable road users – so pedestrians, cyclists and all the users of roads who are not in motor vehicles – and it was very insightful to understand some of the impacts on those road users particularly when it came to pedestrians using our roads, how they felt safe and how those roads could be improved.

Can I turn to recommendation 27 of the report, which recommends that the government look at and review locations of pedestrian crossings to ensure links to public transport stops, activity centres and schools are safe for people to travel to and from those roads. We know over recent times we have had some shocking incidents when it comes to traffic incidents and we have seen very, very shocking loss of life in those circumstances, so it is always very important that we are constantly reviewing how we can improve our roads and particularly how we can make sure that pedestrian crossings are in areas where they are most needed.

If I turn to my own electorate and Barkers Road in Kew between Auburn Road and Glenferrie Road, there are a number of large schools, there are a number of childcare centres and there are number of cafes, and in that stretch of road – Deputy Speaker, you may know it – there is not one pedestrian crossing to allow those particularly school students to cross the road safely.

There have been a number of near misses. There have been a number of instances where cars have veered off the road and even one circumstance where a car veered off the road into where the cafe is located, where there was a young mother with her children in a pram, and it was a very, very near miss. I have been working with the local community, the school community and the small business owners there, Michael and Cynthia Pelosi, to make sure that we can put pressure on the Allan Labor government to put in place a pedestrian crossing on that stretch of road. We have over 1000 signatures on the petition, both one that is sitting in the local cafe and one online. It is so important that we see that pedestrian crossing put in place as soon as possible so the safety of those school students and locals is put first.

Another very important pedestrian crossing in the local area is the corner of Glenferrie and Cotham roads on the number 16 tram route. It is a busy T-intersection. There is a tram terminus there, and unfortunately the tram terminates just a little bit back from the corner of that intersection where the pedestrian crossing is currently located. This means we see every single day – every time a tram stops there and people are getting off or on the tram – people darting across that road. Often it is school students travelling to and from school that are crossing that road, and they are not crossing at the pedestrian crossing. There is a similar situation on Burke Road on the 72 tram, where there are two pedestrian crossings to make sure that the safety of road users is put first, and that is a model we should be looking at implementing on the corner of Glenferrie and Cotham roads as a priority to make sure that those school students in particular are not crossing a road where there is no pedestrian crossing and every single time when we have got cars doing a right turn into that road their lives are being put at risk. There is a petition that locals are circulating that has got hundreds of signatures, and I call on the Allan Labor government to really consider the implementation of that pedestrian crossing at that intersection.

There are two other important pedestrian crossings that really do fit under that recommendation of the report. Willsmere Road in Kew is a busy little shopping precinct. There is a very busy roundabout that sees a lot of flow traffic from the Eastern Freeway coming to and from. Unfortunately, there is no really safe way across that intersection and there is no real safe way to cross that roundabout, so there needs to be consideration for making sure a pedestrian crossing can be put there as well. Finally, on Bulleen Road, I have been working with the local Bellevue Kindergarten. As we know, young children crossing the road outside kinders is a very risky business at the best of times, but this is a stretch of road where we see traffic flying down towards the Eastern Freeway, towards the large expansion of that freeway with the North East Link, where traffic volumes are only going to increase. There is no pedestrian crossing anywhere near the kindergarten or the park there, so consideration of installing a pedestrian crossing on Bulleen Road is very important, and I call on the Allan Labor government to consider this.

Just finally, looking at recommendation 23 of the report talking about the need to deliver accessible tram stops, along the 48 and 109 trams routes within the electorate of Kew there is not one accessible tram stop. I call on the government to actually invest in making sure people can get on public transport.