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Students run gauntlet at Lindenow South rail crossingState Parliament has been told school students from Lindenow South run the risk of serious accident as the result of having to use the main roadway through the township to cross the rail line to Bairnsdale. By Kevin Balshaw - 12th September 2008 - Back to News State Parliament has been told school students from Lindenow South run the risk of serious accident as the result of having to use the main roadway through the township to cross the rail line to Bairnsdale.
The Member for Eastern Victoria, Philip Davis, has called for the Lindenow South rail crossing to be added to the current statewide program for a major safety upgrade.
Mr Davis said in Parliament improvement in safety at the Lindenow South crossing would need to take into account that students at the local primary school and those traveling by bus to secondary schools in nearby Bairnsdale had to cross the line on the roadway.
He said an upgrade of the crossing would therefore need to incorporate a pedestrian crossing for students who twice daily had to venture onto a road used by semi-trailers and B-doubles transporting the district’s large vegetable harvest.
It should also include replacing the painted 40 kilometre speed signs on either approach to Lindenow Primary School with the flashing electronic signs that were now the most common form of traffic control at schools throughout the State.
Mr Davis said many of the 20 children attending the primary school, and another 20 or 30 students who lined up for buses to Bairnsdale had to run the gauntlet with heavy traffic using the road through Lindenow South as one of the two main routes to vegetable producing areas on the Mitchell River flats at Lindenow, two kilometres further on.
"The Government’s level crossing program, introduced following the rail disaster near Kerang, lists a nearby crossing on a lesser used road at Hillside for the installation of advanced automated warning signs," he said.
"However, while improved safety is undoubtedly warranted at Hillside, the crossing in Lindenow South is not on the list for upgrade even though it poses a far greater safety threat.
"The safety problem for Lindenow South students is compounded by the fact there is inadequate traffic warning to slow down the vegetable transports and other vehicles using the crossing.
"School zone speed restrictions on either approach to the primary school are only painted signs that are barely discernible to drivers.
"The situation is symptomatic of the fact that while the Lindenow-Lindenow South district is important economically to East Gippsland, it is under-provided in terms of infrastructure and public facilities."
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: kevin.balshaw@parliament.vic.gov.au
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