Manly Vale School Zone Speeding 
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| Wednesday, 02 April 2008 | ||||||
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Mr MIKE BAIRD (Manly) [12.04 p.m.]: I speak today about the urgent need for the Government to act to improve pedestrian and driver safety in a school zone on Condamine Street in Manly Vale. This campaign is driven by over 1,000 mums and dads from my community who are seriously concerned that the 40-kilometre per hour signs in this school zone are not being followed. I pay special tribute to local mum Brigid Asquith-Hunt who has not only done all of this in her own time, but she has mobilised the masses, driven first and foremost by concern for child safety.
At the community's urging, the northern beaches patrol conducted radar testing at the site for two mornings last month. Although the patrol car was positioned in full view of approaching motorists, cars were still pulled over for speeding, including one vehicle that was travelling so fast that the patrol officer was compelled to jump out on to the road and physically signal the need to slow down. Brigid herself has known three young pedestrians who have been injured by cars in this school zone, two of whom required hospitalisation. A local doctor, Dr Joseph, has been practising in his surgery on Condamine Street for 30 years and he has attended two fatalities and dozens of accidents at this site. Several years ago, after attending a fatality at this site, Dr Joseph raised the problem with local police; however, unfortunately, no action has been taken. Brigid Asquith-Hunt became so concerned that the lives of pedestrians and drivers were endangered that she started a petition. She was overwhelmed. In two weeks she has gathered more than 1,000 signatures calling on the New South Wales Government and the Minister for Roads, as the appropriate Minister, to allocate funding to install flashing lights on the school zone regulatory signs at Condamine Street, Manly Vale, and to consider the viability of repositioning the northerly school zone regulatory sign further north in Condamine Street so that people get a chance to see it before they hit it. Brigid has endorsement from the parents and friends committees of three schools: St Kieran's Primary School, Mackellar Girls High School and Manly Vale Public School. Sergeant McKenna of the northern beaches patrol has told Brigid that he supports the community's calls for flashing lights. I wrote to Minister Eric Roozendaal on 12 December. There has been no response. In fact I am yet to hear about outstanding problems involving five constituents dating back to July 2007, including Scott Wood and Phil Jacobs. The Minister does not even bother with a response. He should respond. The Minister for Roads has said:
An investigation in March by Daily Telegraph reporter Kelvin Bissett found that revenue from fixed speed cameras in New South Wales doubled to $70 million from 2006-07. The Roads and Traffic Authority has said that money generated from school zone infringements is returned to school zone safety. When you add all of that together, there is a compelling reason. The Minister has the money. He says the research shows that flashing lights work and yet this zone has been ignored time and again. It is time the Minister responded. It is time that he listened to what the communities are calling for and actually paid attention to clear safety needs at this particular site. It is almost two years ago that the Minister made an announcement that the Government would roll out electronic school safety alert systems, incorporating flashing 40 kilometre per hour signs and lights across New South Wales. Today I urge the Minister for Roads to honour his commitment and acknowledge the urgent need for flashing light technology at Condamine Street, Manly Vale. Brigid Asquith-Hunt summarises the situation very well:
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