In 2019 parents petitioned for a safe crossing instead of a vague speed hump.

AFTER five years of efforts there’s finally a safe pedestrian crossing in front of the main entrance to Maylands Peninsula Primary School.

Bayswater councillor Elli Petersen-Pik originally raised the issue before he became a councillor and long before his kids started school, and parents later collected a petition in 2019 calling for a crossing.

“On a daily basis you’ll see kids in precarious situations,” parent Kate Brill told us in 2019. 

Cr Petersen-Pik said the lengthy campaign has highlighted why the council needed to get serious and take concrete actions to implement the Safe Routes to Schools plan (“Petition gets action,” Voice, February 4 2023). That’ll give them a firmer standing to convince Main Roads to make all the needed changes to improve safety, since it’s that state body which has power over crossings.

“With much persistence, and taking this case as a personal trial to see how long it takes to implement a zebra crossing in our city, I eventually succeeded in getting the support from Main Roads, only after I explained that there are children with disabilities crossing that road,” Cr Petersen-Pik reflected on his councillor’s social media profile this week.

“My conclusion is simple: If it has taken years to get an approval and implement a zebra crossing before the second biggest public primary school in Perth … you can imagine how hard it would be to get zebra crossings installed in other suitable locations, to encourage more people to walk and ride,” including those wanting to get to town centres. 

“As we can see again, our WA state government obviously doesn’t regard pedestrians and cyclists as important enough.”

Bayswater staff are currently thinking up an implementation plan to address the many footpath hazards that discourage walking, as pointed out by the public during the Safe Route to School plan’s consultation last year.

It goes to councillors in May.

by DAVID BELL