Page 114 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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Statistics from traffic fines last year clearly indicate that motorists can become distracted and perhaps become lax in their recognition of and respect for pedestrian crossings at schools. We are all busy and I have no doubt that the vast majority of motorists who break the rules at school zones do not mean to do it. Obvious reminders like crossing supervisors and other ways of highlighting crossing zones remind motorists that vulnerable children are about.
In the first week of the 2018 school year over 400 fines were issued to drivers exceeding the 40-kilometre zone. We know crossing supervisors are effective, and because we know they work surely it is not good enough that only 25 out of 134 schools have been offered this essential safety feature. Given that the directorate already had research from the council identifying at least 73 schools with unsafe crossings, why is its election commitment being rolled out so slowly? Just like the response to school psychologists, it seems to be tokenistic to have the bare minimum so they can look like they are doing something while treating the community with disdain.
My motion also calls on the government to install flashing lights. Again, extensive research both here and overseas has identified the improved safety outcomes for pedestrians and children and the positive impact on motorist behaviour where flashing lights are in place.
In 2010 the New South Wales Audit Office presented a report to the New South Wales parliament on the effectiveness of initiatives of the Roads and Traffic Authority and New South Wales to improve the safety of children around schools. Reduced speed zones around 10,000 New South Wales schools had been introduced in 2003. In presenting the report the Auditor-General noted:
Despite the 40 km/h school zones having been in place for 7 years, motorists continue to exceed the speed limit.
The Auditor-General recommended the introduction of flashing lights at school zones and consideration of increased penalties for speeding where flashing lights are installed. The then New South Wales Commissioner for Children and Young People Ms Vanessa Whittington endorsed the Auditor General, saying:
… the Commission believes every school in New South Wales should have a flashing light warning system in place so that all children enjoy the same level of protection. The Commission supports the Auditor-General’s recommendation to improve the visibility of school zones by increasing the use of flashing light warning systems …
A 2004 Main Roads Western Australian study titled “Effects of flashing lights on driver speed behaviours within school zones” found that the installation of flashing lights led to a substantial increase in drivers’ compliance with the school zone speed restrictions:
These reductions in the average speed, in a case of a crash, would reduce crash casualty risk by up to 50%, and significantly greater if a crash involves a pedestrian.
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