Stephen Patterson gave the following speech in Parliament on the 18th of February, 2021.
"Here in parliament today I take the opportunity to speak about a win that we have had recently in our local community. I have been contacted by several concerned members of our community regarding the safety of children crossing the road on the corner of Williams Avenue and Rugless Terrace in Glenelg East, just near Glenelg Primary School.
Williams Avenue runs behind Glenelg Primary School and is one of the main entrances to the school which many of the local Glenelg East students use to walk, run or ride to school. Previously, the intersection I spoke about at Williams Avenue and Rugless Terrace was a blind spot for cars travelling along there and also for pedestrians crossing the road. The intersection itself is especially busy with cars at school pick-up and drop-off times, turning from Williams Avenue onto Rugless Terrace, and then add to that the traffic that is already coming down Rugless Terrace towards Brighton Road suddenly appearing around the corner about 100 metres away from this intersection.
Following this contact from concerned constituents, I then worked with the City of Holdfast Bay to investigate the options to help promote pedestrian safety at this intersection. This work involved investigating the pedestrian safety and also the traffic management on Rugless Terrace and Williams Avenue. The investigation also included site observation and a pedestrian crossing survey during those really busy afternoon school pick-up times.
The investigation did note that the vehicles that were parked on the northern side of Rugless Terrace restricted the pedestrian sightlines as the kids were looking to cross the road. One of the solutions thought of initially was whether we could put a pedestrian refuge in the middle of Rugless Terrace to allow those pedestrians and also bike riders to stop in the centre of the road and provide a two-stage crossing. However, looking at this further identified that there were quite a few groups of pedestrians, many of them children, who, when they crossed here, would exceed the capacity of the refuge.
Also, from a parent's perspective, stopping between these opposing lanes with small children requires a high level of supervision, making sure they do not suddenly dart out, and would not improve the pedestrian sightlines because they would still have to look from the footpath. As I said, looking into this further, it was decided to address this by having pedestrian storage areas installed on either side of the road, with formalised parking lanes to accommodate street parking. These treatments included concrete protuberances that extended beyond the parked cars to help improve those sightlines and also, in effect, reduce the crossing distance across Rugless Terrace. The great news is that these works were finished in January, just prior to the start of the school term, much to the delight and also relief of the school community.
A huge thank you goes to the engineering manager at the City of Holdfast Bay, Mr Michael de Heus, for his work in rectifying this issue, and also to the Glenelg Primary School leadership team, Principal Shane Misso and Assistant Principal Anthony Fischer. However, I have to emphasise that this would not have been possible without the advocacy of two Glenelg East residents, Rosie Sulicich and Victoria Tsemitsidis. Victoria is the mother of three children who attend Glenelg Primary School, and they use this crossing every day.
Victoria's partner, Nicholas, also helps out. He is in a wheelchair, and the protuberances really help him. Previously, he would have had to have been on the footpath, which is a good way back, trying to look over parked cars, and of course he is in the wheelchair. Being able to be on the road there with the sightlines makes it a lot easier for him and his children. Rosie's and Victoria's contact to my electorate office is fantastic, and I congratulate them on getting an outcome not only for their children but for all Glenelg Primary School students, past and future.
The upgrade to this traffic safety area is not the only work we have done around Glenelg Primary School. One of my election commitments was to install safety bollards on the really busy Diagonal Road-Brighton Road intersection, which carries 100,000 vehicles per day past this intersection. That has been delivered, helping improve safety as well.
While I am talking about Glenelg Primary School, it was a real honour to be the guest speaker at their leadership conference recently. It was great to speak to 200 students about leadership, commitment and teamwork, utilising examples from my personal and professional life as well as using the Premier as a great example of a fantastic leader. In meeting the students, I really know that the future of Morphett and our state is certainly bright, and I would like to congratulate the teachers on helping those students on their journey."
