Tuesday, 2 May 2023

Broadmeadows electorate road safety

Kathleen MATTHEWS-WARD (Broadmeadows) (19:03): (132) My adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. The action I am seeking is for the minister to request a review by the Department of Transport and Planning into safety improvements along Pascoe Vale Road near the intersection of Post Office Place in Glenroy. I know this government has made road safety a priority, with the Victorian Road Safety Strategy 2021–2030 aiming to halve road deaths and reduce serious injuries by 2030. The strategy works across education, infrastructure, policy and technology to improve safety for all road users. As part of this strategy, 35 new fixed road safety cameras have been funded, two of which will be installed in my electorate of Broadmeadows.

The pedestrian crossing at the intersection of Post Office Place and Pascoe Vale Road in Glenroy has been raised as a safety concern by my constituents due to unsafe driving and a lack of traffic light compliance. Local residents and I made representations last year to Cameras Save Lives, who referred the matter for assessment to the fixed camera site selection committee. These lights are the main crossing point for the busy Glenroy shopping centre and also provide the main pedestrian access to the train station and bus interchange. Glenroy has a higher than average number of older people, people with disabilities and people from non-English-speaking backgrounds, who make up a high proportion of those pedestrians and vulnerable road users. I thank residents who have raised this issue with me, particularly Mary Pope for her community activism and Andrea Bunting and other members of Walk On Merri-bek for their support of pedestrians.

I would also like to take this opportunity to briefly speak about the road safety of pedestrians on Hilton Street, Glenroy, a council-controlled road. Hilton Street is one of the longest streets in Merri-bek, yet it does not have a single pedestrian crossing, even though people need to cross it to access several schools, including Belle Vue Park Primary School, Glenroy Central Primary School, St Thomas More Primary School, Corpus Christi Glenroy, Glenroy Private, Ilim College and Glenroy College, plus two aged care facilities, open space and shops in North Street, East Street and West Street, Hadfield. Along the equivalent length of Bell Street there are seven crossings. Gaffney Street has five and Boundary Road has three. I have been advocating to Merri-bek council for quite some time about this unacceptable situation, and I am very pleased that they have recently agreed to install a signalised pedestrian crossing. I would like to thank local resident Marie Alberto for recently starting a petition on this matter and other local residents such as Anthony Scarpari, Ann Richardson and Rod Calendar for their continued advocacy on these important matters.