Parents demand action to improve road safety around Ballarat schools

The 14-year-old was crossing Cuthberts Road, Alfredton, near St Thomas More Catholic Primary School on a winter morning in June when a car struck him, leaving the teen with a fractured pelvis, broken arm and shoulder.

His twin brother Jonathon, who chose to leave later and ride to school that day, came across the scene shortly after and raced back home to alert mum Donna Curtis to the accident.

"He (Jonathon) came home in tears, crying, and I said you race back down and I will follow," she said.

Ms Curtis was getting ready for work when the accident occurred and rushed to the scene to find Gareth had been moved off the road and an ambulance had been called.

Although the accident happened around 7.45am, before the peak school drop-off time and before the 40kmh school speed zone was active, Ms Curtis said traffic was heavy ... and with more and more people moving in to new estates in Alfredton and further west it is only going to get worse.

She believes the speed limit past all schools should be a permanent 40kmh and speed humps installed to slow traffic.

Gareth spent a night in hospital, had his arm in plaster and was on crutches for about eight weeks, and Ms Curtis had to drive him to and from school because he couldn't walk.

It meant getting caught in the daily crush of students and cars making their way to Ballarat High School where frequently she could not get a park. It also opened her eyes to the number of students crossing Learmonth Street with no school crossing, near the busy Sturt Street roundabout at the Arch of Victory.

Ms Curtis and other parents across Ballarat have written letters to council and the state government demanding action on dangerous traffic and roads around schools.

Among the other areas of concern are Cuthberts Road and Learmonth Street, Alfredton, Wiltshire Lane near Greenhalghs Road, Dyson Drive near Cuthberts Road in Lucas, and Recreation Road in Mount Clear.

They have proposed school crossings, speed humps, roundabouts and other traffic calming plans to improve the safety of children and parents near schools.

"With the amount of traffic and housing estates going up we need more safe crossings for kids and adults," Ms Curtis said.

Katie Lee, whose daughter is in grade one at Alfredton Primary School, said she had learned to get to school up to 20 minutes early to beat the traffic, which was worse at afternoon pick-up than morning drop-off.

She has also written to authorities asking for something to be done to ensure the safety of the hundreds of students who attend Alfredton Primary School and St Thomas More Catholic Primary School, and who attend the nearby child care centre.

"In the morning if you go anywhere from 8.15am to 8.40am the whole street is backed up," she said.

Alfredton Primary School principal Laurel Donaldson said with about 1000 children being dropped off to two schools and a childcare centre each morning, and increasing development in the area, there was going to be an increase in congestion.

"After 8am traffic is very congested along Cuthberts Road, but the same applies from Dyson Drive along Sturt Street," Ms Donaldson said.

"Roundabouts certainly help with regulating traffic speed. We are pleased with our crossing supervisors, and we do promote safety for our community."

Principals say the "bad habits" of some parents dropping off and picking up their children are not helping either with double parking and parents crossing the road with children away from crossings common.

Despite instructions to parents in school newsletters urging them to park legally, park slightly further away and walk, and other measures many parents continue to add to the problem.

Growing numbers of students from Winter Valley enrolled at Delacombe Primary School have increased traffic around the school and the number of children crossing busy Wiltshire Lane near the Greenhalghs Road roundabout.

The speed limit was reduced from 80kmh to 60kmh and a pedestrian island was installed in 2021 a few hundreds metres further north of the roundabout following a campaign from local residents, but most students cross closer to the busy intersection to walk straight up Greenhalghs Road to the school.

At the time, Cr Des Hudson said the road had been a significant issue for the community for the better part of a decade.

"The simple thing, at the moment, is to change the speed limit along Wiltshire Lane to 60km/h, that could then enable the supervised school crossing to be installed that would provide that safe crossing point," he said.

But Delacombe Primary School principal Scott Phillips said the major concern was the location of the crossing outside the school.

"Because the crossing is effectively to the left of the school, not the centre of the school ... there's some really bad habits formed where parents take their kids straight across to the other side of the road because it's quickest," Mr Phillips said.

"I would say it doesn't work terribly well as a safety area for our school. It's not ideal. If you have a school crossing you want it where most people come to school."

Mr Phillips said they had spoken to council about trying to move the crossing, which would mean losing some parking spots directly in front of the school.

He said any measures to improve the walkability and ridability of children to school was worth looking at.

Parents at Mount Clear College have also called for a crossing at Recreation Road near the Canadian Creek walking trail which scores of students use to get to school.

"At least a hundred kids a day cross that road to get to school ... which is extremely busy with all the buses using that road to get to school and traffic from kids being dropped off," one parent said.

They have written to council several times since 2022 and used the Snap Send Solve app to highlight the need for a school crossing at that location.

City of Ballarat director of development and growth Natalie Robertson said when assessing the need for a school crossing, council used the newly-developed Department of Transport School Crossing Risk Assessment Framework to determine if a school crossing is required.

"Some of the criteria that helps determine the need for a designated school crossing include number of lanes to cross, number of conflicting traffic directions, speed approach, foot traffic frequency and line of sight," Ms Robertson said.

"The City of Ballarat is constantly assessing the need for school crossings and holds safety around schools as a high priority.

"All new proposed school crossing sites in the future will have to be approved by the Department of Transport."

A Department of Transport and Planning spokesperson said it was working with City of Ballarat, Golden Plains Shire and more than 60 local councils to trial the new framework which takes in to consideration a factors including traffic and pedestrian volume, speed limits, road geometry, existing infrastructure and more.

"We're conducting the School Crossing Risk Assessment Framework trial, which aims to find a modern way of assessing and evaluating road safety risk at school crossing sites," they said.

"Making sure our roads are safe for kids travelling to and from school is vital."