Wednesday, 26 August 2026

 Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (10:35): I rise to make a contribution on the Legislative Assembly Economy and Infrastructure Committee’s report on the inquiry into the impact of road safety behaviours on vulnerable road users. I want to talk to recommendation 6, that the flexibility of speed-zoning guidelines be reviewed with the aim of decreasing suburban rat-running and reducing speeds around schools and arterial roads within and around activity centres.

Further to my constituency question of 30 October 2024 and my community’s ongoing advocacy, I am very pleased to have recently received confirmation from the Minister for Roads and Road Safety that the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) has now finalised its detailed development and planning work for new, safer speeds along Melville Road through Brunswick West, Coburg West and Pascoe Vale South. The speed limit on Melville Road will be reduced from 60 kilometres down to 50 ‍kilometres from Bell Street to the north down to Dawson Street to the south. Accompanying this speed change will be the introduction of a new, and the first, 40-kilometre school speed zone on Melville Road, between McGregor Avenue and Mattingly Crescent to the north, around where the Campbell Turnbull Library is, and Dawson Street and Fitzgibbon Avenue to the south, just after that really sharp bend. This is a crucial step towards improving road safety for families attending St Joseph’s primary school on the corner of Hope Street and Brunswick North West Primary School, who have been advocating strongly for these changes and who I have been supporting.

These safer speeds will also be welcome for many others along the corridor, including St Fidelis primary school, Coburg West Primary School, West Coburg football–cricket club at Shore Reserve, Pascoe Vale South Primary School, Doris Blackburn kinder, Strathmore Secondary College and many, many others, including the traders along the corridor such as Miinot Gelato. Implementation of the safer speed zones changes are expected to be completed by DTP from early 2027.

A pedestrian crossing near Dawson Street has also been developed and will be delivered by Merri-bek City Council, for which I previously secured $214,000 via the Victorian Labor government to help deliver. This is a significant win for our local community and builds on the work I have been proud to progress with my colleagues in this place through the parliamentary inquiry on road safety, which specifically called for safer speeds and traffic-calming measures along key state arterials such as Melville Road to better protect public tram commuters, pedestrians, cyclists, families, elderly residents and many other vulnerable road users.

In this respect, further to my adjournment of 11 August, I again draw the minister’s attention to the need for ongoing improvements along Bell Street through Pascoe Vale South and Coburg. In that regard, recommendation 26 is that:

The Department of Transport and Planning review intersections commonly used by vulnerable road users and assess if treatments such as timed pedestrian protection would benefit.

Recommendation 27 is around reviewing the location of pedestrian crossings on arterial roads to ensure there are regular crossings linked to public transport stops, activity centres and schools.

Whilst we have continued to make improvements through and adjacent to the Bell Street corridor, including successfully advocating for the installation of new speed humps to calm vehicle traffic along York Street in Pascoe Vale South, following the opening of the wonderful new park on the corner of York Street and Westgate Street, far more needs to be done to make Bell Street safe, including at the Reynolds Parade–York Street intersection but particularly at the Cumberland Road intersection, where we have experienced a number of increasingly dangerous and concerning incidents. On 2 December 2024 a heavy freight vehicle carrying waste had its load catch fire. On 18 November 2024 during the morning peak, a heavy freight truck rolled on its side as it was turning out of Cumberland Road westwards, heading down towards the Bell Street–Tullamarine Freeway entrance, and it was a miracle that no-one was killed or injured.

However, the closest call arguably came, as I said, a couple of weeks ago on 21 July, when a local couple narrowly avoided serious injury or worse after a car crashed through their bedroom wall just after 6 am. Naresh and Divya would welcome DTP conducting a holistic safety review of the intersection, which should consider and make provision for a range of measures, including a review of the light sequencing and timing of the Bell Street–Cumberland Road intersection; the need for extended road safety bollards and fencing for the properties on the south side of Bell Street, including Naresh and Divya’s home; and new road safety signage, lighting and calming measures for vehicles as they approach and commute through this intersection.

But it is also back further east along the corridors that I have previously raised that further action needs to be taken. On 24 July I was contacted by a local parent, John Griffiths, who shared his family’s concern with me:

I am writing to express my serious concern about the safety of a pedestrian crossing at Bell St, between Vincent and Alice St (south side), near the Coburg Aquarium.

We and other families use the crossing … daily to get to school –

mainly families of Coburg North Primary School –

… yet current conditions create significant risks for pedestrians.

Drivers frequently approach the crossing at speed, run the red light even when children are waiting to cross and the man has gone green.

If safety is not addressed and policing not improved at this intersection, I fear that the worst could happen. I shudder to imagine what a car travelling at 60km/h+ would do to my 7 year old.

I respectfully request that the crossing be reviewed as a priority and that measures such as reduced speed limits, a red light camera or supervised crossing facilities be considered …

… Where possible, please ensure that Victoria Police investigate and charge the drivers breaking the law and endangering pedestrians …

He sent me a lot of videos to demonstrate that. This report is all about making our local roads safer.