Thursday, 1 September 2022

Adjournment

Ms SHING (Eastern Victoria—Minister for Water, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Equality) (17:36): I move:

That the house do now adjourn.

Woodend Primary School pedestrian crossing

Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:36): (2112) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and it relates to safety concerns at the Woodend Primary School pedestrian crossing on High Street, Woodend. The action that I seek from the minister is for him to order the immediate installation of flashing LED speed signs to operate at the Woodend Primary School crossing in High Street during school times, facing and applicable to motorists approaching in both directions, to improve safety at the crossing for students, staff, parents and motorists.

Woodend Primary School has a student enrolment of over 435 students and is located in the heart of Woodend, with an additional grade 4 campus located in Carlsruhe. Although the official address of the main campus in Woodend is Owen Street, the school also borders the C792, which is High Street, which is the main thoroughfare through town and, as such, carries a large volume of traffic each day. The only pedestrian access to the school for students, staff and parents is the school crossing on High Street, which is manned by a crossing supervisor in the morning and afternoon on every school day. With the large volume of traffic that travels through the school crossing each day the school community have grave concerns for users of the crossing. The crossing is marked with the regular school crossing signs, a single amber light facing both directions and a smaller 40-kilometre school zone sign. These markers are clearly not sufficient, with reports by the crossing supervisor of collisions and many near misses in recent times.

The common denominators for these incidents are speed or driver unawareness of the school crossing, with one incident resulting in a vehicle colliding with the ‘Stop’ sign being held by the crossing supervisor. The supervisor also reports that he has nearly been struck on many occasions whilst operating the crossing as well as vehicles skidding through the crossing after approaching it at excessive speed. On one day in July alone, the supervisor stated, six cars slid off the road at the crossing. He was nearly struck by four cars that slid through the crossing, nearly hitting him, and two separate nose-to-tail collisions occurred at the crossing.

Representatives of the school community report that driver behaviour improves dramatically when dedicated police patrols of the crossing are conducted but have sought my assistance to ensure permanent safety upgrades are implemented. The school community is requesting that flashing 40-kilometres-per-hour LED speed signs be installed to warn drivers during the drop-off and pick-up times and make the crossing safer for all. I call on the minister to provide the funding and direct Regional Roads Victoria to install these signs as a matter of urgency.