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All eyes on Wirilda Crescent traffic calming project

By City of Latrobe - 6th April 2005 - Back to News

Latrobe City Council will be keeping a watchful eye on a six-month traffic-calming project being trialled in Wirilda Crescent, Traralgon. The project involves the construction of twelve temporary kerb extensions that are designed to slow traffic in the residential street.

The kerb extensions have been installed this week in locations in Wirilda Crescent where traffic speed is known to be high. These will narrow the road to 6.6 metres which gives motorists a feeling of constriction which causes them to slow down.

Galbraith Ward Councillor, Lisa Proctor, said the kerb extensions also provide a safer environment for vehicles in Selwyn Place to move forward further into the intersection with Wirilda Crescent, providing drivers with much better vision of any approaching vehicles.

"There are also benefits for schoolchildren, particularly those who attend St Gabriel’s Primary, as the kerb extensions located between Claire Court and Michelle Court are providing a narrower crossing point for those children walking to school," Cr Proctor said.

Cr Proctor said the trial was being monitored for six months to determine its effectiveness, and whether the kerb extensions will be retained and constructed in a more permanent manner.

"This is very much an issue where we need community feedback from local residents. We need the residents who live in Wirilda Crescent and a number of adjoining courts to assess how successful the project is in contributing to reduced traffic speed and in creating a safer urban street environment," Cr Proctor said.

Deputy Mayor, Councillor Darrell White, said that speed issues and the related safety concerns for children and elderly people crossing Wirilda Crescent, and residents exiting private driveways, had been raised as early as 1997.

"Council wrote to 239 residents as a consequence, seeking comment on possible traffic management options to slow traffic, but as there was a poor response, residents were advised no action would be proposed, but the traffic issues would continue to be monitored.

"However, Council received a petition from local residents over traffic issues in January 2004. Following discussion by Council a public meeting was called which I chaired as Mayor at the time. The meeting was lively but productive, and it determined that the temporary kerb extensions be installed for a six-month trial and monitored," Cr White explained.

Latrobe City’s Manager Community Safety, Henk Harberts, said that traffic management issues had frequently raised passionate debate in communities, but moves towards traffic calming were increasingly being seen as sustainable ways to improve safety and quality of life in residential environments.

"For some years there was a tendency to attempt to solve safety issues by constructing wider roads that were perceived to be safer. In effect what happened was that the wider roads encouraged us all to drive faster, increasing the likelihood of more severe injuries and pedestrian fatalities," Mr Harberts explained.

"There were also instances where trees were removed at intersections or on bends to increase visibility and perceivably increase safety, but those modifications only resulted in increased traffic speeds by vehicles and more severe collisions. There was an obvious need to rethink strategies, and traffic calming techniques that reduced vehicular speeds.

"Many traffic calming techniques have been tried with mixed success in Australia and in numerous countries across the world such as the introduction of speed humps or four-way stop signs. Often they are controversial such as with speed humps, leading to arguments that emergency traffic vehicle responses such as fire services are impeded, that they are noisy, damage vehicles or bicycles are discouraged.

"The use of kerb extensions offers a much more practical traffic calming solution. Kerb extensions interrupt the driver’s perception of a wide stretch of road ahead, creating the illusion of less space and a need to travel at a reduced speed; yet it doesn’t cause problems for emergency vehicles," Mr Harberts said.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com