Perth Voice Interactive

PARENTS, kids and staff at one of Perth’s most populous schools have welcomed a belated plan to fix pedestrian safety on the surrounding streets.

Maylands Peninsula Primary School principal Paul Andrijich told Bayswater council’s May briefing that road safety had been a common concern from parents across his 11 years at the school. 

The issue’s only getting more pointed as housing infill around Maylands brings in more people and stretches roads and schools to the limit.

A council survey in mid-2022 found fast streets, wide intersections, and broken, narrow, or missing footpaths were common safety issues identified by 281 locals.

Mr Andrijich said the school has 732 students this year and for many of those living in flats along the railway line driving isn’t an option: “So many of our families walk or ride or scoot to school and they traverse long distances to get to and from their homes each day.

“Many of these students are unaccompanied riders or walkers who might not have the required level of road awareness to get them to and from school safely.

“On average I would take a couple of calls each term alerted me to the latest near miss up on Caledonia Avenue or around the school’s immediate jurisdiction,” Mr Andrijich said.

But a council hazard identifying survey from 2022, its “Safe Routes to School” pilot project, initially didn’t contain any action items to bring about concrete changes aside from some tree trimming and routine footpath maintenance. Most items were just aspirationally listed for consideration at an unspecified future date.

Parents organised a petition with 243 signatures calling for the fixes to go ahead instead of sitting on the backburner (“Parents slam report,” Voice, January 21, 2023). 

The councillor who originally pushed for the safety fixes in 2019, Elli Petersen-Pik, requested his council take heed of the petition and put together a solid, budgeted action plan.

Roughly 110 items are now listed for action across the next 10 years. 

High priority items, including the much-requested Guildford Road crossing near Darby Street, are on the priority list for year one. 

Cr Petersen-Pik said at the May council meeting that he realised a comprehensive safe routes plan was needed after the lengthy efforts needed to just get a crossing right outside the school. 

“It took me four years to get the zebra crossing in front of the main entrance to the school and that is not reasonable,” Cr Petersen-Pik said.

He said the increasingly dense urban infill around Maylands made for high numbers of walkers and heavy traffic around the school, so the Safe Routes pilot “was a must, and this will ensure that we are providing the right infrastructure”.

The Safe Routes pilot has been extended to cover Camboon, Embleton and Bayswater primary schools, with the council asking people to identify hazards via engage.bayswater.wa.gov.au until June 19.

by DAVID BELL