Perth Voice Interactive

STIRLING city council say there is nothing it can do to improve the visibility of flashing speed signs that WA Main Roads installed behind leafy trees.

The 40kph signs were placed near Inglewood primary school in June in a bid to improve safety, but the local P&C and Maylands Labor MP Lisa Baker say the Crawford Road signs are virtually invisible to drivers (“Peekaboo,” Voice, October 3, 2015).

The Voice asked Main Roads if it was going to move the signs to a better location, but it avoided the question and handballed to Stirling council.  “A Main Roads traffic team has inspected the signs and we have contacted the city of Stirling, who own and maintain Crawford Road,” Celena Chamoun said. “It is understood that the city of Stirling will prune the vegetation, and this will improve the visibility of the signs.”

Council parks manager Ian Hunter says pruning isn’t on the agenda: “The trees cannot be pruned to establish sign visibility without destroying the trees,” he says.

“The city of Stirling calls on Main Roads to work with the city to better place these signs so children’s safety and established street trees can be protected.”

The flashing speed signs were installed, along with two more sets at Inglewood pre-primary and kindergarten, as part of a WA government roll-out.