SCHOOL SAFETY FAIL
Principal forced to act as lollipop lady amid fears for new school’s students
THERE are fears for the safety of students at a new Armstrong Creek primary school that has been built with no supervised crossing or speed restrictions.
St Catherine of Siena principal Donna Bryce turned lollipop lady yesterday to ensure some of the 60 prep students attending an orientation day weren’t crossing a major thoroughfare unsupervised.
THERE are fears for the safety of students at a new Armstrong Creek primary school that has been built with no supervised crossing or speed restrictions.
St Catherine of Siena principal Donna Bryce turned lollipop lady yesterday to ensure some of the 60 prep students attending an orientation day weren’t crossing a major thoroughfare unsupervised.
“I’m concerned that it will take some accident to have a crossing put in place,” Ms Bryce.
“The amount of traffic that uses Warralily Blvd really warrants a crossing to protect our most precious beings, our children.
“Drivers are often going faster than the 50km/h speed limit. It is a thoroughfare between the Surf Coast Highway and Barwon Heads Rd.”
Yesterday Geelong council said it planned to install a zebra crossing outside the school before the start of the 2020 school year.
Council said it was confident a 40km/h zone would be approved for Warralily Blvd before school resumes next year.
An application to decrease the speed limit was lodged in September.
But it remains unclear how long it will take for a supervised crossing to be established near the school if pedestrian and traffic volumes hit the required targets.
Ms Bryce, who has been campaigning for a crossing for months, said it was needed due to the scale of development in Armstrong Creek.
“Being quite a dense development area, most families are in walking distance to school or want to ride their bikes.”
Ms Bryce said a crossing on Warralily Blvd and a 40km/h zone around the school was essential when it opened for the first time in early 2020.
Nathalie Ovalles, the mother of a St Catherine student, said speeding drivers were an issue on Warralily Blvd.
“It’s a 50km/h zone but no one does 50km/h,” Ms Ovalles said. “A 40km/h zone is needed because of the school.”
Geelong council city services director Guy WilsonBrowne said a count of pedestrians and vehicles around the school would be completed in the first week of term one 2020.
“The State Government supports the funding of crossing supervisors. The funding model requires pedestrian and vehicle counts to meet specified levels before it will support a supervisor,” Mr WilsonBrowne said.
He said the State Government did not provide funding for an interim crossing supervisor.
“If the required levels are met we will apply for a funded crossing supervisor.”
Mr Wilson-Browne said the zebra crossing would be upgraded to a raised pedestrian crossing in the next year.