By Brendan Rees
A parent fears it’s just a matter of time before someone is seriously injured as they make their way to Clyde Primary School.
Lisa Keppel of Cranbourne East says traffic “roars” through Clyde-Five Ways Road where the speed limit is 80km/h, putting at risk the lives of pedestrians who use the traffic light crossing near Oroya Grove.
“It’s a really chaotic road. I’ve seen near misses nearly every single day, it’s just a disaster waiting to happen,” Ms Keppel said.
“They really need to drop the speed limit and put a crossing supervisor on there. There’s little preppies crossing the road by themselves.
“I’m really scared someone is going to die and I’m not over dramatising it; it’s scary everyday watching it.”
According to Ms Keppel said the school had grown from 150 kids to 480 kids in a “very short space of time.”
In a statement, VicRoads says there was no need apply a 40km/h school zone on Clyde-Five Ways Road due to school’s distance from the arterial road which is about 200 metres.
“The new traffic lights at Clyde-Five Ways Road and Oroya Grove were installed by a private housing developer to manage extra traffic coming from the new estate,” VicRoads manager of movement and safety Sasha Yarwood said.
“We’ll continue to monitor the area to determine if any further improvements to the area are needed,” he said.
Casey Council has called VicRoads to reduce the current speed limit from 80km/h to 60km/h during school peak hours.
“VicRoads has indicated that they do not support this change,” Casey manager of city design and construction Trevor Griffin said.
Parents at Clyde Primary School have expressed their concerns, saying the speed limit needed to be dropped urgently.
“If the speed limit during school times was dropped, clear school signage and flashing lights were in place, this would certainly be a positive step to avoid a catastrophic accident from happening,” school council president Kerri Lightowler said.
“Our Clyde community is growing rapidly, new estates, shopping centres and parks, bringing more families to our beautiful area,
“Our infrastructure is struggling to keep up so it’s absolutely important to keep the safety of our community as our number one priority,” she said.
Ms Lightowler said many trucks were seen running red lights at the crossing.
“With the many crests on Berwick-Clyde Road, vehicles, especially larger vehicles have not got enough time to stop when the pedestrian button is pressed,” she said.
“This would be devastating on our whole community if something were to happen.”
