By Brendan Rees
Flashing 40km/h speed signs will be installed outside Pearcedale Primary School, if the Liberals win the 2018 State Election, member for Hastings Neale Burgess has promised.
Mr Burgess visited the school with opposition leader Matthew Guy for the announcement on Wednesday, 21 March, saying the signs would improve road safety on Baxter-Tooradin Road.
“Parents have become increasingly concerned about the high number and speed of vehicles passing within metres of the school,” Mr Burgess said.
“It’s something that this community has been calling for, for a very long time. You just have stand here and watch the cars go streaming past.”
He said a letter was sent to the Minister for Education James Merlino requesting the signs be installed but had fallen on deaf ears.
“The minister said there was no funding available yet he put three into his own electorate,” Mr Burgess said. “There’s been a continual refusal of the state government to put them in here without any apparent reason.”
“We’ve been fighting literally for years to get some added protection for our children as they cross this busy road.”
“Cars and kids are never a good mix, and while reducing the speed limit to 40 kilometres is no guarantee, it will give drivers and our children a better chance of seeing and avoiding each other.”
Mr Guy addressed a number of parents at the school, saying with 850 kids students enrolled at the school including hearing impaired children “you can’t put a price on kids’ safety.”
“Parents should be able to send their kids to school and have the confidence that they will arrive there safely,” he said.
Also at the announcement was parent Line Thye who said the amount of trucks speeding past Pearcedale Primary School was increasing.
“They (drivers) kind of miss that their hitting a school zone until they see all the kids,” she said.
“Because it’s the link between Gippsland and the Morning Peninsula,” she says “They (trucks) cause a certain level of danger to the kids.”
Another parent Brook Skilton, said trucks were “barrelling” outside the school, adding “It’s just horrendous.”
Ms Skilton said she signed a petition organised by Mr Burgess, which received more than 500 signatures about 18 months ago.
“We keep hitting brick walls. VicRoads have exhausted all their funding for the flashing 40km/h zones across the state,” she said.
“They’re operating out of a black and white policy that doesn’t include humans.”
“They are waiting for someone to be killed. Everything is reactionary unfortunately,” she said.
Pearcedale Primary School principal Simon Anderson said: “It’s all about students’ safety. It’s a major traffic route and anything that’s going to make the kids safer we’re all in favour of it.”
