Page 1869 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
(a) immediately address community concerns by initiating traffic calming measures; and
(b) report to this Assembly on measures taken by the last day of the June 2012 sitting week.
I bring this motion to the Assembly’s attention today because it is a very serious issue, and a serious safety concern for residents in Fadden and Macarthur as well as parts of Gilmore and Chisholm who use Coyne Street for their daily commutes. I have received representations from residents in the area. Being a Macarthur resident myself, and having driven on this road many times, I can personally say that this stretch of road is dangerous, particularly in the wet. It is perhaps no surprise that the Chronicle has called Coyne Street the crash central of the area. It is reasonable that local residents want this to be fixed now.
In putting this out today, it is interesting to look at some of the feedback I have received today on this motion. Some was from an old school friend asking why this is still an issue. She says that they had problems there back when we were at school. Another resident in the area has got back to me and said that she has lived in Carson Street for 22 years and uses Coyne Street every day. She says it is only a matter of time before someone is killed.
Murray Gordon, one of the Liberal candidates for Molonglo, has got back to me and said that he lived in Coyne Street in 1998. He said: “We had a small community group that lobbied the administration of the day pre self-government for such measures. I had a file an inch thick, but the best we got was regular assessments of traffic volume which was reported to us. It was similar to rubbing salt into the wound. I wish you much better luck.”
So this is an issue that is not new. It is an issue that has been around for a long time. Now it is time the issue is fixed. That is what we have been doing. We are consulting with the community. We have been hearing what residents have been saying. We have been seeing this with our own eyes. This motion calls on the government to act.
We know residents are concerned. Fadden resident Toby Keen had this to say:
We have lived here five years … the day we moved in there was an accident. And it’s been happening ever since.
Most times when it rains you will hear people lose it. The light pole has probably been replaced 10 times, the trees have been hit a number of times—only a couple of weeks ago, someone took a tree out.
There was an incident involving Leanne Nowland last September when a ute lost control and slammed into her car. As she described it:
He did a big 360 and came on to my side of the road. It’s just a really dangerous piece of road. In the past six months, there has been five accidents that we know about but I’m sure there has been more.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video