Wednesday, 18 June 2025

Montrose Primary School road safety

Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (19:07): (1195) Montrose Primary School is a wonderful local school with bright and engaged students led by principal Kylie Fisher. I enjoy visiting the school, whether presenting students with their leadership badges or supporting the school with their facilities’ needs. The students and teachers deserve the best possible learning environments. The students, the families and the teachers also deserve to have safe roads around the school. Since the completion of the Montrose intersection upgrade with changed signage and the way traffic moves past the school at Leith Road now, families have raised with me their serious concerns about road safety at Montrose Primary School, particularly on Leith Road between Trevallyn Close and Stradbroke Road. Parents are deeply disappointed that road safety improvements were not made outside Montrose Primary School as part of the Montrose intersection upgrades. Despite a year of construction disrupting the school, families now find new road safety hazards have emerged, putting their children at risk.

So the matter I raise is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is to undertake a comprehensive review and upgrade of Montrose Primary School zone signage, including the adequacy and placement of electronic 40-kilometre-per-hour indicators, before a serious accident occurs. Currently the location of the electronic 40-kilometre-per-hour signs around half a kilometre away from the school gates is failing to adequately slow Leith Road traffic passing the school because there is no additional 40-kilometre-per-hour signage beyond the Montrose Preschool, leaving drivers without any visual reminder that a reduced speed limit remains in effect past Trevallyn Close and past the Montrose Primary School. Furthermore, road changes have created a new hazard. The road design merges three lanes into two at Trevallyn Close at the school. Parents tell me the effect of this change is that drivers accelerate in order to merge rather than maintain the required 40-kilometres-per-hour speed limit during school hours. This is a significant safety hazard for students who are pedestrians and also for parents and teachers driving to the school that need to turn left into Burley Street. Canterbury Road, Leith Road and Swansea Road serve as a major thoroughfare, so it is imperative that the minister reviews this and upgrades the signage as a matter of urgency to ensure the safety of the Montrose Primary School community.

Residents raised these concerns with the Department of Transport and Planning during the construction but were told unceremoniously that they would not take any further action despite the signage being inadequate. While parents note the intersection upgrades have improved congestion and traffic flow, families and teachers want these road safety hazards that have now emerged around the school fixed.