TIME TO ADDRESS PEDAL AND THE METAL ON COAST
Listen up Gold Coast because I think it is time we made the streets of this wonderful city – just like Donald Trump might have said – safe again
LET’S make our streets safe again.
From bus drivers being bashed by passengers to dangerous driving on suburban side roads, we have to do better.
It’s a simple fact that as our city grows, so too do our problems. It’s not that our town has been beset by baddies, it’s just a numbers game – more people means more issues.
But that does not mean we have to sit back and take it.
After speaking to Griffith University traffic expert and associate professor Matthew Burke this week, it was obvious that it all comes down to planning. Eighty years ago, no one ever envisioned that the Gold Coast would be a city of this size. But today, in 2020, you would have to be a fool not to recognise that we will be busting through that million mark before too long.
So we need to start planning.
A solid public transportation network is vital for our future but what good are fast, efficient and cheap links if we do not feel safe?
As of yesterday, police were still hunting for a group of school students who ganged up on a Gold Coast bus driver, punching him in the head after he braked suddenly to avoid a crash at Mermaid Beach.
As a result, Robina councillor Hermann Vorster has renewed calls for a uniformed marshal service on public transport after the violent attack.
And he is absolutely correct to continue his campaign for a crackdown on vandalism, violence and drug use in and around the city’s public transport network.
Surely a specialised security team is the least we can do. It is something that every major city has had to employ, so what are we waiting for? After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
But that’s just one side of our safety issue.
If we should feel secure when riding on a bus or train, surely we should feel the same when stepping outside our homes.
Yet our suburban streets have become a no-go zone for kids and pedestrians alike as increased traffic pressure means more cars hurtling down our side streets.
Yes, they’re speeding … but it’s not illegal. Because at a staggering 50km/h, they are travelling at the speed limit. Fifty kilometres per hour! Really? Is this what our Government considers a safe speed in environments where children live and play?
Has anyone ever heard of physics? We might as well send our kids straight out to the highway, such is the risk of our neighbourhood roads.
Yet despite repeated calls to reduce speeds on local roads, there has been no action.
“For a decade I have been calling for suburban streets to be slowed down. It’s happened in Europe, it’s happening in the UK, and parts of the USA are starting to follow suit,” says Dr Burke. “Our collector roads can stay at 50km/h, but the rest – which is about 70 per cent of suburban streets – should drop to 30km/h.
“But we haven’t even been able to get it moved down to 40km/h, which is still too fast anyway.”
It is not just the threat of injury or death to our children. This speed limit is killing our suburban vibe.
Dr Burke says the moment that speeds are reduced to 30km/h, the kids will come back out to play and our neighbourhoods will come alive again. I know he’s right because I live in a narrow culde-sac where cars have to crawl along. As a result, the kids own the street.
Every afternoon we have kids on bikes, kids on skateboards, kids drawing with chalk on the bitumen and parents chatting to
neighbours. It’s like an episode of Cheers, where everybody knows your name … and most of us over 18 are also holding a drink. #mumlyf
Friends comment that our street seems straight out of the 70s, but if we know what’s good for us we’ll make this the street of the future.
Slower suburban speeds and transit security guards are two parts of a simple plan that can help revolutionise our total transportation network for the better.
Because let’s face it, safety never goes out of style.
This speed limit is killing our suburban vibe