Parents argue for improved road safety

Their main focus was the dangerous situation on Wellington and West Streets which have no visible signage or safety measures to warn on-coming traffic of the presence of children and, more importantly, the poor pedestrian access to the Centre, which caters for newborns to five-year-olds.

“There are plenty of stories of near misses. We don’t want to turn that into an accident,” said Michael Keating, one of the parents who is a member of the Lois Barker Parent Committee. “I remember having both my girls in my arms, trying to cross the road and wondering, am I going to make it across?”

Parents have been campaigning for safety measures for the past 12 months, and progress is slowly gaining momentum.

The Council has recently placed bollards on West Street in front of the Centre’s entrance to restrict cars parking on the curve. A shared-way is also scheduled to be introduced onto West Street in the next few months, which means the speed limit will be reduced and new signage will be erected to alert drivers.

However, some parents are not convinced the proposed measures go far enough, especially in regard to Wellington Street. “We’re happy that progress is being made,” says Michael Keating, “but parents still feel that more could be done.”

Karamia Wheaton, who sends her 21-month-old daughter, Pearl, to the Centre, said, “The big issue I have is the speed of cars. Just crossing the road is very hard. It’s quite scary actually.”

A pedestrian crossing has been requested to be installed across Wellington Street, however, after conducting a traffic survey, the Council rejected the application. As Tony Pooley explained, however busy the pedestrian traffic on Wellington Street, the deciding factor was the amount of car traffic, which wasn’t substantial enough.

Michael Keating is planning to lobby the Council again for measures to be taken in front of the Day Care Centre. As he points out, “You can control your kids 19 times out of 20, but that one time, a car can come along... This is an issue of child safety, which is paramount.”

Photo: Concerned parents with children, on the corner of Wellington and West Streets Photo: Andrew Collis

Source: South Sydney Herald July 2007 http://www.southsydneyherald.com.au/