Traffic lives on line

By Russell Bennett
WORRIED Mount Evelyn residents have called for safety improvements to a local thoroughfare they say is endangering children’s lives.
Barry Callanan is concerned the stretch of road from Mount Evelyn Primary School on Silvan Road to Pembroke Secondary College on Old Hereford Road is posing a risk to students and parents wishing to cross.
“There is no possible way for children to cross safely on foot, or anybody else, in fact,” he said.
“I sometimes wonder whether this is a deliberate action to keep the traffic moving at a main road speed through what is really a domestic township area.”
Billanook Ward councillor Tim Heenan said he couldn’t see the need for additional crossings but Pembroke principal Tom O’Meara said: “There certainly is a need for another between here (Pembroke) and the roundabout.”
“Students heading to the senior campus cross the road down near the roundabout to catch their bus,” he said.
“Student safety is obviously a priority for us so to see another crossing along there would be great.”
But Cr Heenan said: “You can safely cross the road anywhere if you do it carefully. There’s just too much traffic near the roundabout for a crossing there but there are areas along Hereford Road where the sight lines for pedestrians are very good.”
Cr Heenan said the crossing issue had never been raised with him before.
“This is the first I’ve heard about it,” he said.
There are supervised school crossings at Mount Evelyn Primary and near Pembroke Secondary but none on the two kilometre stretch between them.
Mr Callanan said: “Because of the complexity of the York Road intersection, if a child was to set out on foot to school from anywhere east or west of Hereford Road, he or she would find themselves on the wrong side of an un-crossable road.
“Another worry is the absence of a good walking and riding path east of Monbulk Road from York to Clegg roads,” he said.
“To me the York Road intersection remains an impossible situation for pedestrians.
“The proposed new Wray Crescent traffic lights will help this but it’s difficult to think that people walking along the west side of Hereford Road would go that far out of their way to cross York Road.”