Wednesday, 19 November 2025

 Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (11:06): Further to my contribution on 29 May 2024, I rise to make a contribution on the Economy and Infrastructure Committee’s report on the inquiry into the impact of road safety behaviours on vulnerable road users. The inquiry and the subsequent report, recommendations and government response continue to be strongly welcomed by many across my community, because vulnerable road users deserve to be respected and safe when commuting along our local roads, streets, footpaths and neighbourhoods.

Whether cycling, walking, pushing a pram, utilising a mobility device or boarding a train, tram or bus, all vulnerable road users deserve our respect. However, as the inquiry highlighted, following on from the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee heard overwhelming evidence that we have continued to experience a dramatic increase in worsening driver behaviour via dangerous driving, aggressive driving, impatient driving, risk-taking driving, speeding, distracted driving, inattention, drink driving, drug driving and failure to wear seat belts, which when combined remain the largest contributing factors and causes of tragic fatalities, accidents, incidents and far too many near misses on our roads. As the committee also highlighted, it is vulnerable road users who continue to tragically experience the brunt of this deteriorating driver behaviour and disproportionately are represented when it comes to road fatalities, serious accidents, incidents and near misses across our state’s and Merri-bek’s roads.

The report found that in 2023 vulnerable road users made up 36 per cent of lives lost on Victorian roads. In 2022 they made up almost half – 47 per cent – and it is across Merri-bek that these issues are compounded and more hazardous, with council’s submission highlighting five fatalities of vulnerable road users in 2022 and another in March 2023. From 2020 to 2022 there were 123 recorded fatal or serious injury crashes involving vulnerable road users across Merri-bek, 118 serious injuries and five deaths. Of those, 38 per cent occurred on local council–managed roads and streets and 62 per cent occurred on state-controlled roads, involving 28 per cent pedestrians, 38 per cent motorcyclists and 34 per cent cyclists. Additionally, 79 per cent of all fatal and serious crashes involving pedestrians and nearly all pedestrian lives lost in Merri-bek occurred on arterial roads during this time.

These statistics of course do not include the more recent tragic fatalities which have occurred on Moreland Road and Gordon Street with the death of a skateboarder; Moreland Road in the vicinity of the John Fawkner hospital with the death of a cyclist; Bell Street in the vicinity of the Coburg town hall with the death of a motorcyclist; Bell Street and Sydney Road intersection, which involved a truck and a vulnerable road user; and other ongoing incidents and accidents along our arterial corridors, including along Sydney Road, North Coburg, Murray Road and our other arterial corridors. These are simply not numbers. They are family members, neighbours, students, elderly residents and people out walking or riding, and they are far over-represented in this trauma data.

We heard directly from my local community of Pascoe Vale, Coburg and Brunswick West through the overwhelming submissions and evidence, including the dedicated public hearing we held at the Coburg town hall on 9 August 2023.

The committee heard that the Coburg High School’s active transport committee numbers continue to rise – that is, the number of students who actively commute to high school in Coburg is one of the highest in the state, with 53.4 per cent of its 1255 students walking or riding the whole way to school and a further 23.3 per cent walking to school from a train station or bus or tram stop. That is nearly 80 per cent of students who actively commute to Coburg High School. However, the ongoing issues with dangerous, aggressive driving behaviour and the absence of appropriate road safety measures continue to create risks and concerns for many. At the inquiry we heard from the crossing supervisor at the corner of Bell Street and Sydney Road, who said:

Each day I notice many vehicles speeding through the intersection, ‘running’ red lights and ignoring no right turn signs. It can be extremely scary with … some motorists … each day.

A local parent, Charlotte Pache, stated:

I am the mother of an 11 year old who attends Coburg PS [Primary School]. We live around 5 minutes by bicycle from the school and in the last two years I have become increasingly concerned about the massive increase in traffic on surrounding roads, increase in careless driving, serious incidents on Murray Road, Bell Street, Nicholson Street and Pentridge Boulevard, the prevalence of entitled behaviour from drivers and lack of safe crossings for children attending Coburg PS, Coburg High and other neighbouring schools. It appears as though the entire design of the roads around the schools in Coburg is to increase convenience for drivers at the expense of children’s safety going to and from school. I would like to see a significant increase in traffic calming measures, speed bumps, reduction of speed limits around schools, additional crossing personnel, and changes in traffic light sequencing to preference children …

and families crossing the roads. We heard from Lisa O’Halloran, the Merri-bek Bicycle User Group convenor, who said 63 per cent of their surveyed members had reported increased mobile phone use and distracted driving since 2020. She said:

When you are on a bike you certainly notice the number of people that are staring at their phones a lot of the time, and it is really quite concerning.

I continue to draw the minister to the 61 findings and 56 recommendations outlined in the report so we can continue taking action to make our local roads safer for all.