Near-tragedy spurs school
traffic pleas
From The West Australian
By Regina Titelius
January , 2006
Parents and teachers at
Kelmscott Primary School want the State Government to act immediately
to ensure the safety of children near their school after a boy was
knocked off his bicycle by a speeding motorist at an intersection.
The call comes as the Government considers
permanent speed cameras for various school zones to catch speeding
drivers.
Under the plan, which will go before
Cabinet within weeks, six Multanovas would be installed in school
zones but not nearby streets or intersections.
Eleven-year-old Matthew Francis suffered
a broken leg, arm and nose when he was hit by a car as he was crossing
the intersection of Brookton Highway and Lefrow Road last Wednesday.
Matthew was discharged from hospital
at the weekend but will be in a wheelchair for six weeks. It will
be many more weeks before he can get back on his bicycle.
Parents and teachers at the school say
it was “an accident waiting to happen” and have been lobbying
the Government and Armadale City Council for more than 10 years to
make the intersection safer.
They want the speed limit cut from 70kmh
to 50kmh and the installation of a pedestrian island and a crossing
with lights. Kelmscott Primary School Parents and Children Association
president Sally Woollcott said local and State governments had to
do more about traffic management.
“As a school community we’re
trying to encourage parents not to drive their kids to school,”
Mrs Woollcott said. “But how can we do that when, as a society,
we seem to be more interested in making things easier for drivers
rather than save our kids lives?”
Matthew has flashbacks of the crash and
said he felt lucky to be alive but would never ride to school again.
“Something needs to be done about
that intersection and my accident proves that,” he said.
Planning and Infrastructure Minister
Alannah MacTiernan is due to meet parents from the school today.
During a police blitz at the start of
the school year, 1529 motorists were caught speeding in WA school
zones – the worst case was a 27-year-old doing 131kmh.
WA Road Safety Council chairman Grant
Dorrington welcomed the speed camera plan but said it was a “sad
indictment on our society” if cameras were needed as an incentive
to save children’s lives.
Shadow road safety minister John McGrath
said that instead of extra speed cameras – the six planned are
set to raise $17 million a year – more warning systems like
flashing lights should be used.
