The removal of one of the two crossing guards in Montrose is raising the ire of residents, with safety concerns at the new intersection leading to confusion around the decision.
The conversion of the Montrose intersection from the roundabout has added extra lanes on Leith Road near Montrose Primary School, but the traffic lights and median strip remain.
Melissa White had a frightening incident with a bus driver earlier this month and said it doesn’t make sense to take a crossing supervisor away.
“It has ultimately made a very big impact, removing one crossing supervisor from three lanes of traffic, they do have the driveway in and out for their car park that’s there as well which just adds to the confusion,” she said.
“There has historically been children hit around that area, though I think it was more so to do with the childcare center area and people looking down the road to pull over the childcare center and ultimately kids walking past, there is a collision that has happened,”
“This just adds to that, especially without that crossing supervisor up there, the specific altercation that happened when I was present there, we’re talking about a bus and there could be hire cars or trucks that wouldn’t see the little kids there.”
Earlier this month, Ms White was crossing in the afternoon with other adults and children and had crossed from the supervised side closest to the school. While crossing the other side of the road, the lights changed and a Ventura bus driver blared the horn from close distance.
Ms White contacted Ventura and was told they had reviewed CCTV footage, noted the incident and were dealing with the matter. Ventura were contacted for comment.
Ms White said the crossing is pretty daunting for anyone to walk across, let alone if kids were just crossing by themselves.
“It’s a very new intersection, it’s crazy at the best of times, let alone the peak time and people these days are just not patient, they just want to get moving and there’s going to be collateral damage along the way,” she said.
“They’re (crossing guards) there to remind the little ones walking across to watch where you’re going or to give them a ‘come on, keep walking over’ and if they’re not there, these kids are five or six years old that are crossing the street,”
“For the last five years I’ve been there, not once had I had any incidents and take a crossing supervisor away and now I’ve already encountered two potential incidents.”
Yarra Ranges Council are responsible for the allocation of crossing guards at school crossings around the region.
A Yarra Ranges Council spokesperson said many of Council’s School Crossing Supervisors are contracted through Hoban Recruitment.
“Before each school term, Council provides Hoban with a list of school crossing sites that need a supervisor, these locations can change each term, so the assignments are never permanent and are on a term-to-term basis as per their Hoban contract,” they said.
“Due to the recent upgraded road and pedestrian safety works at the Montrose intersection, it has meant that only one supervisor is now required at that location, rather than two,”
“Our supervisors do an excellent job at keeping children safe, but we can all do our bit by driving to conditions and being careful around crossings, particularly before and after school times. We ask everyone to be kind and courteous to our crossing supervisors, whether they’re driving or crossing with their children.”
A Change.org petition to reinstate Steve Price, the crossing supervisor who was reassigned, has garnered 584 signatures.
A Hoban Recruitment spokesperson said they provide crossings staff to council and works closely with many local councils.
“Councils ensure crossings are staffed in accordance with their assessments of site requirements, which includes matters such as traffic volume, road layout, pedestrian activity, and other factors,” they said.
“Decisions regarding crossing supervision levels are made by the relevant councils and road safety authorities.”
