Page 125 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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some of the very wide roads, because of the wide-angle corners that enable cars to travel around them very quickly. These are issues of Canberra infrastructure generally, and they come into particular focus at school zones. As I mentioned earlier, I think school children are a particular class of vulnerable road users sometimes because of their inattentive behaviour, their lack of experience, and other factors.
In terms of the motion today, I thank Ms Lee for bringing this topic forward. It is one that occupies my mind on a regular basis. I do think that individualised assessment for each school is the way to go. I am pleased to see that Ms Lee has recognised that position in her remarks and reflected what is in the parliamentary agreement.
I also welcome the amendment brought forward by Ms Berry which sets out some of the things that are happening and provides some data on the current circumstances. I think it is helpful to the Assembly to have that information provided. And I particularly welcome the commitments that it calls on to be reported back to the Assembly on the results of this school crossing program evaluation and also the preparation of traffic management plans for schools as well as implementation plans for additional actions.
I think these are worthwhile measures to inform the Assembly of the work that is being rolled out now and to give us all an opportunity for our own peace of mind, our own analysis, to look at those things and then decide whether further steps need to be taken. In the meantime I look forward to seeing the continued rollout of these programs which I think are having a positive impact on the safety of school children around our educational institutions.
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (11.19): There is no denying that keeping our children safe is of the utmost importance. That includes travelling to and from school. That is why the ACT government are committed to doing what we can to ensure safe passage for all students making their way to schools across Canberra, whether on foot, by bike, on the bus or in a car. It is why this government has already introduced a school crossing supervisor pilot program.
As we all know, last year’s pilot program delivered supervisors to 20 crossings across Canberra, benefiting 23 schools, including Florey Primary School in my electorate of Ginninderra. I find it pretty curious that Ms Lee noted in her own motion that the school crossing supervisors program is a pilot, and then throughout her speech consistently failed to recognise that it was a pilot, describing this government as letting down schools by not installing the program everywhere. I know this distortion suited Ms Lee’s speech, but attention does need to be drawn to it being a distortion.
Crossings were chosen by a selection committee on a needs basis. Their decisions were based on advice from Transport Canberra and City Services regarding similar programs interstate, as well as data on pedestrian and traffic volumes at crossings used by early childhood, primary and special needs students. Since then, the initiative has been expanded to include another five crossings. These crossing supervisors—sometimes referred to as lollipop men and women—have become familiar faces guiding some of this city’s most vulnerable.
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