Page 775 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 March 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
point where we can confidently say that we believe that we have done all that is necessary to ensure the safety of children attending our schools.
I think the issue that Mr Stevenson raised tonight has been primarily a concern for school children rather than adult pedestrians; and, given the level of expertise amongst our traffic and safety engineers, I do not believe that any area in Australia can look at our system and say that there is a better way to improve it. If statistics come to our notice that indicate that there is a better way of doing things, by all means, I here give an assurance that this Government will take all steps necessary to introduce it.
However, I believe that the new arrangements - and they are comparatively new in terms of traffic management - that we are currently seeing put in place in the ACT are comparable with the best systems available in the world today. I frankly reject the subject of your matter of public importance, Mr Stevenson - that they are "inappropriate and impractical pedestrian islands". I think they are essential. And until such time as the experts - the people who really know about these matters - can come up with a better solution, I am happy and confident to have them in place.
MR MOORE (8.30): I think much of the confusion about what Mr Stevenson talks about comes from Mr Duby. Quite clearly, on these matters of safety the officers in Mr Duby's department have worked as hard as they can and to the best of their ability within the framework that the Alliance Government provided for them; and that framework was the amount of money they were allowed to spend on these safety measures. When Mr Duby talks about these safety measures - including concrete islands and painted line islands - there is some truth to the matter, but the reality is that on some of the streets that have been prepared in this way there are vast distances of painted lines without any of the concrete refuges.
There is a very big difference between the concrete refuges that you referred to - and I agree that this system has many advantages over the old systems - and just the white lines that run over very long distances. Whilst they will improve the situation in respect of many cars, there is still a temptation to pass. After all, they are only white lines; they are not double lines and so forth. So, with a number of motorists there is the temptation to pass and to ignore those lines.
The situation in reality is that when we are dealing with children, particularly children under eight, their perceptions of traffic are simply not mature enough for them to be able to judge traffic speeds, and the safest way of dealing with them, of course, was through the neighbourhood school principle. That is one of the reasons we had the neighbourhood schools. As Mr Jensen will remember, I am sure, in the Estimates Committee hearing,
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .