Perth Voice Interactive

A PEDESTRIAN had to be rescued from under a bus near the corner of Charles Street and Carr Street last week, a risky intersection that’s long been warned about by local pedestrian and bike safety advocates. 

The man was crossing around dusk on June 1 when he was hit by a bus in the bus lane. Firefighters took about 40 minutes to free him and he was taken to hospital with serious injuries. 

In 2016 the formerly four-lane Charles Street was turned into a six-lane road when two extra bus lanes were added, deleting the median strip and leaving just a skinny tightrope-walk of a kerb between traffic flows.

Local safety advocacy group Bike Friendly Vincent had warned it’d make the roads riskier to cross on foot (“Charles an ‘urban design disaster’,” Voice, March 19, 2016). 

There is a pedestrian crossing at the awkwardly angled Carr Street intersection but it’s a site of frequent confusion given turning traffic gets the green light at the same time as crossing pedestrians.

Three days before the man was hit by the bus, the same intersection was the site of a crash when a car collided with another then mounted the kerb, took out a street light, and sent the other vehicle slamming into a unit block’s gas junction box rupturing gas pipes. 

The first driver tried to flee but was detained by the other car’s passengers and now faces charges of drink driving, ignoring a red light, and failing to stop.

by DAVID BELL

AFTER briefly experimenting with giving residents a say on whether they want a verge tree, Bayswater council is set to drop its opt-in system. 

Until late last year verge trees went in by default, one outside every residence, and anyone not wanting one would have to plead their case to the council and hope for an exemption. 

After October 2021’s election the new lineup on council changed the rules to give residents more of a say about what happened on their verges, and they now only plant a verge tree if the resident responds to the flyer and consents.

They’d hoped to plant 3000 trees this season and spent $21,400 sending out flyers hoping to convince residents to consent. 

A report put to councillors last week said only 20 per cent of people replied affirmatively, making for a lot of patchy sunbaked verges (Voice, May 21, 2022). Most people just never wrote back.

Councillor Dan Bull, who’d opposed the opt-in system, moved to revert to the old mandatory regime, with homeowners simply being informed if they were getting a new verge tree.

“I think we would all agree that this report confirms that the amendments that were made to the urban tree policy is an abject failure.

“The fact that… the city has only managed to replace 20 per cent of dead verge trees as opposed to the previous year’s 83 per cent is a real disappointment… we are in a climate crisis and we have an Urban Forest Strategy and we have targets, and to receive the report confirming this [trees not being replaced] is utterly, utterly disappointing.”

Cr Petersen-Pik urged a quick policy reverse in time for planting during the current cool weather, the prime planting season to give them the best chance to survive. 

He pointed out the change was made suddenly and a quick change back was justified. 

Cr Petersen-Pik said only being able to replace 20 per cent of trees that died had a huge impact: 

“We have children walking to school without shade now. We’ve had trees that were removed for different reasons – some of them died and some of them had disease – and the city’s not able to plant new ones.”

At least 132 Baysy verge trees died this financial year, from being sunbaked, too thirsty, age, or damage from development. Cr Petersen-Pik also moved that they pursue any potential measures to keep current trees safe from those factors.

He was supported by the same councillors who’d opposed the opt-in system in the first place; Cr Bull, Lorna Clarke, Giorgia Johnson and Sally Palmer.

But the majority of councillors wanted to think it over and voted against reverting to the old system on the advice of acting CEO Cliff Frewing, who said the council’s overall tree policy was already working its way through their usual policy change process.

The council’s policy review committee met on May 31 and recommended a middle ground between the current opt-in policy and the old stern policy where everyone got a tree unless they lodged an objection on the hope the council’s director would grant clemency. 

Under the mid-ground proposal they’d sent out letters and then plant the tree “unless requested otherwise by the adjacent property owner”.

The recommendation is due back at full council for a vote at the June meeting. 

by DAVID BELL

FEDERAL Perth MP Patrick Gorman has entered PM Anthony Albanese’s ministry after being appointed assistant minister to the prime minister, sworn in this week by governor-general David Hurley.

It’s considered a nice gig and involves working closely with the PM, and comes off the back of Mr Gorman’s huge result for Labor in the Perth seat. Mr Gorman won with a massive two-party preferred vote of 64.78 per cent, and he achieved a swing of 11.5 per cent compared to the national average which saw a swing of 3.41 per cent to Labor.

The Liberal party suffered a -11.9 per cent swing on the first preference vote, with candidate David Dwyer getting 27 per cent of votes and the Greens’ Caroline Perks increasing her 

party’s foothold 3.5 per cent to 21.8 per cent of the primary.

A WOMAN suffered a broken leg after being hit by an electric bike on a Beaufort Street footpath recently, highlighting growing concerns about mixing e-vehicles and pedestrians.

On May 5, Anna Lindstedt was hit by the e-bike as she got off a bus on Beaufort Street.

“As I stepped off, the e-bike hit me from behind and I fell onto the ground. The e-bike went on top of me, and I broke my tibia,” she says.

Ms Lindstedt had surgery to insert a plate and screws into her leg to reattach her snapped bone. 

“I had that surgery two weeks ago. I was put in a cast and now I’m in a CAM boot,” she says. “It’s still painful and I can’t put any weight on it.”

Ms Lindstedt says the e-bike rider sanitised and bandaged her grazes and stayed until she went to the hospital, but she didn’t get the opportunity to speak to them about what happened. 

“I have no idea what their thought process was, why they were riding alongside a bus like that or if they just didn’t look. I don’t know where the lapse in judgement came from. We didn’t really speak.”

Ms Lindstedt says she loves the idea of micromobility devices, but she’s always been wary of them while walking to her employment in the CBD.

Whiz past

“I was such an advocate for them before, I thought they were great, but I was a bit afraid of them. Almost every day I’d have one fly past me and because they’re so quiet, you don’t see them coming. People often don’t use bells and they suddenly whiz past you, it’d just freak me out.”

The accident made her realise how little the existing rules are policed and that roads and footpaths aren’t designed to accommodate e-riders.

“Right now, it feels like there’s no safety measures in place,” she says.

Curtin University sustainability scientist Peter Newman says micromobility devices are ultimately better and make local areas more accessible, but acknowledges safety concerns. He thinks that can be overcome with better planning.

“They’re enabling local centres like Fremantle to thrive, and they’re enabling people with mobility issues to get around…they’re already growing globally at 17 per cent per year which is very fast,” Prof Newman said.

“People are already breaking the law because a lot of the imports aren’t regulated, and they get used at great speed and there are dangers. 

“The local council can do a lot more for bikes and that has been an ongoing process.

“There’s going to be a lot more accidents because there’s a lot more use. The reality is that any kind of mobility is dangerous compared to walking and pedestrians are usually the ones that are hit.” 

The Road Safety Commission introduced new regulations in December 2021 using feedback from a community survey.

Road Saftey Commissioner Andrew Warner says people must keep vigilant in shared spaces like roads and footpaths. 

“The biggest risk factor for both eBikes and privately owned eScooters is people modifying them beyond the legal limits,” he says.

by LIV DECLERCK

FREMANTLE’s mighty Chook yearns once again to be the theme of the vintage nursery rhyme’s Golden Goose: always doing most good for the world around.

So we’re calling out to all our wonderful readers to hop on board and give the Rooster a mighty post-pandemic financial boost for the next year or two.

We have a great plan for a Reader Revolution to help ‘Feed the Chook’ each and every week. 

We are champing at the beak for a much faster recovery from our pandemic battering amidst ongoing economic uncertainty and turmoil, to get back to doing what we do best. 

Just like we used to with big fat papers bursting with a host of great news, promotions and advertisements about the goings on of our region.

It’s a plan to provide the Fremantle, Melville and Cockburn Herald with a separate source of revenue from our discerning readers with a few bucks to spare, in support of responsible journalism. 

It’s about our experienced journos, our host of amazing young students doing a whole lot more, ferreting out the most interesting people, including the baddies, for the very best stories of the week; and always using the highest news standards to bring a regular, informed and interesting look at the world. 

It’s also about nurturing and developing our other vital staff who help make this happen. 

Truly, we’re done with the constant threat to the jobs of our wonderful staff every time the economy belches badly. 

For 33 years the iconic Rooster has always relied on local business and other advertisers to fund the unique service we provide: an independent, free local newspaper every week. 

For any community to actually have a news medium not owned by the globally dominant Rupert Murdoch, or Kerry Stokes’ 7West Media is such a privilege – it’s as rare as hens’ teeth. 

Many local businesses were smashed by the pandemic (just as we were). Lots died. Others have yet to recover. They will, one day. In the meantime we’d love your help to give us the means to pursue the best in local journalism, and also help promote local businesses so all our wonderful readers can go and support them to get back on their feet.

If you value the Rooster, and are mightily moved by our story and our ambition to get out and do our greatest good again, your contribution, your gift – one off or recurring, large or small –  can be easily made. 

Simply send it to: Herald Reserve, nab, BSB 086 217, Account 63-951-0124. Or you can mail it to Fremantle Herald, PO Box 85, North Fremantle, WA, 6158. 

And we’d love to know who you are. Please send a remittance advice or any enquiries to accounts@fremantleherald.com or text 0438 933 300. And keep an eye out each week as we report on the success of this plan to get the Rooster crowing again.

by ANDREW SMITH, PUBLISHER

A STIRLING council ranger proved a welcome sight recently when he came across a woman needing urgent medical help.

Stirling mayor Mark Irwin dedicated his June mayor’s message to ranger Darren Anderson’s actions, saying 

“every now and then, whilst we are going about the business of local government, extraordinary circumstances can arise. 

“Darren, a new ranger with the city’s Community Safety team, was mid-way through his lunch break near a city reserve when he saw a young woman fighting for her life.”

Mr Anderson performed CPR for half an hour until the ambulance arrived and managed the family and community members attempting to help.

“His background as a police officer in the United Kingdom and extensive training served him well, and no doubt saved her life. We recognise his calmness under extreme pressure, and his service to the community,” Mr Irwin said.