Perth Voice Interactive

SIXTY-EIGHT people have signed a petition calling for pedestrian crossings on dangerous sections of Beaufort Street.

Locals want crossings at the intersections of Wood Street, and Third and Central Avenues.

Janelle Marshall, 43, was partially paralysed and suffered brain damage after a car accident when she was nine.

Now confined to a gopher, it’s difficult to travel from her house on Third Avenue to the chemist on the other side of Beaufort Street: “A few years ago a truck driver, on his mobile phone, came out a side street and drove into me while I was crossing Beaufort Street,” she says

“He dragged me along the road and did a fair bit of damage to my gopher.

“There are a lot of old people who need to cross the road to go to the chemist and the IGA, but the only pedestrian crossing is miles away, up at Ninth Avenue.”

Margaret Thompson, who helped Janelle organise the petition, says there have been several accidents and countless near misses involving pedestrians over the years.

“The physio, chemist and the medical surgery are all places elderly people visit regularly,” she says.

“We really need a pedestrian crossing there to make it safer.”

Stirling city council manager Paul Giamov says safety has improved at the three intersections, including a school crossing at Third Avenue, a pedestrian crossing phase at Central Avenue and improved crossing points at Wood Street.

He says facilities “meet all required standards and provide sufficient opportunities for pedestrians to cross the road safely”.

“In fact, the facilities in place along Beaufort Street could be considered safer than many in comparable metropolitan locations.”

Mr Giamov says the council will examine whether speed should be reduced.

Maylands Labor MP Lisa Baker says locals have been lobbying for improved safety for years.

“I have submitted multiple petitions on behalf of the community on this issue in the past five years, so clearly more can be done to improve the liveability and safety of this area.

“The City of Stirling is proactive in moving to improve pedestrian safety on Beaufort Street by undertaking traffic calming measures, and I support them fully in approaching the state government for assistance on this issue.

“If we want to improve the vibrancy of the Inglewood shopping strip, we need to look at providing further infrastructure to link safe pedestrian zones.”

by STEPHEN POLLOCK