Safety boost for town

By Ed Merrison
SELBY residents may have travelled a few yards further down the road to safety.
Julie Howard of the Selby Precinct Safety Group was optimistic that last week’s meeting with Monbulk MP James Merlino and the Shire of Yarra Ranges might lead to a solution for motorists and pedestrians.
The shire will draw up a plan for VicRoads that recommends median strips on Belgrave-Gembrook Road at either end of the township and a reduction of the speed limit to 50km/h as a result of the meeting.
The proposed median strips would also give pedestrians a place to stop halfway across the road so they could cross in two stages.
Ms Howard said the plan was a good compromise since residents did not want traffic lights in the township and a roundabout was considered to be out of the question due to cost, a loss of car parking and the need for a wider turning circle than the intersection at Selby-Aura Road could accommodate.
Ms Howard said she hoped the new plan would make the road safer for people crossing the road and motorists turning onto it from Selby’s school and shopping precinct.
“Median strips should create a sense of coming into the township and should make drivers slow down,” she said.
Ms Howard called the meeting on Thursday, 7 September to discuss the results of the Safer Selby survey, circulated in April.
More than 250 Selby precinct users answered the survey which asked them to identify and assess safety risks and indicate their preferred solution.
Respondents said traffic speed and poor visibility caused by sharp bends at either end of the precinct were the major hazards and raised particular concerns about children crossing the road for the primary school and elderly people using community services in the precinct.
The results appear in a 35-page report put together by Ms Howard and fellow volunteer Keith Purdie.
Mr Merlino commended Ms Howard and Mr Purdie for their hard work and said the report, combined with the council’s report, would give him a stronger argument in lobbying VicRoads and Transport Minister Peter Batchelor for project funding.
“Once the council has determined that this is the direction they want to go in, I will advocate very strongly for that outcome,” he said.
The council expects to complete its report in about two months.