Crusade for crossings

By Nicole Williams
CITY of Casey has rejected a Cranbourne school’s pleas for more school crossings.
Cranbourne Carlisle Primary School approached the council a number of times during the year to request three extra crossings to prevent students crossing the roads unsafely.
School council president Arbup Peters said he was shocked the council had completely ‘knocked back’ the request given the school’s student population was growing.
The school currently has one crossing on Silky Oak Drive, which Mr Peters said, meant students still need to cross other small roads without assistance.
“This was supposed to be a prevention of kids getting injured and it will be a travesty if that was to occur,” he said.
City of Casey carried out observational surveys and determined car and pedestrian numbers were too low to install extra crossings on Springhill Drive and Majestic Boulevard.
Casey Councillor Amanda Stapledon said primary school aged children often didn’t understand the road rules and added that parents need the security of adequate school crossings.
“I would like to see more crossings constructed at the school as soon as possible and I will advocate for school crossing supervisors to be put in place in the very near future,” Cr Stapledon said.
About 200 students are currently enrolled in the school and this is expected to increase by 100 next year.
A new childcare centre and retail development are also expected to increase traffic.
Casey Council committed to reassessing the need for the additional crossings in Term 1 and Cr Stapledon said she had asked Casey Council to bring forward the assessment to before the end of this year.
Mr Peters said he was crossing his fingers that no accidents occur before the reassessment.