The drivers seat
Sue Brooks February 25th, 2010
It seems that our local editor Mr Peter Chapman knows better than our Council especially our CEO about road signs and intersections. He is not happy with our CEO now. Just lately it was our Planning and Development Dept so maybe it is the roads dept and the CEO’s turn now to receive the Peter Chapman spotlight and resulting make over! Mr Chapman didn’t attend the meeting with residents but maybe he should have.
Then he may have written that Council has already installed warning signs leading up to the intersection, painted a give way sign ahead on the road, repainted the lines at the intersection and have put the additional reflective backgrounds around the give way signs.
Apparently a local truck driver has explained that with a give way sign he can slow down, assess the traffic and if all clear continue across the interesection quickly and smoothly. If he has to stop then he uses more fuel and takes much longer to clear the intersection. Other community members want the Give Way sign to stay.
The recent fatality was extremely sad but if we are to jump into vehicles that can travel faster than the human body was designed to do we take a risk. Each and every time we travel by road we acknowledge that either ourselves or some other road user could make a mistake or act irresponsibly. Our bodies aren’t designed to cope with a sudden stop or impact. Travelling by road is more often than not safe but statistics show that our safety can never ever be guaranteed.
I can own up to one night a while ago now nearly killing myself and Graham. I was not concentrating and drove out onto the Burrum heads Rd instead of stopping where it interesects with Anson’s Rd. I was lucky as no traffic was coming. I was mortified. Am still. I know the road well as I have used it for years but still on that particular night I made a mistake. I’m still not sure why but the fact remains I did. Most of us are lucky and live to tell the tales of our near misses or do what I have done till now and never admit them for the embarassment that they are.
So while I agree that roads contribute to safety and should be designed well and maintained and upgraded the reality is that we have many ‘old’ roads built to a lower standard than would be accepted today and we need to be careful when we drive.
My heart is heavy with sadness for the lifelong burden that one young girl will have to carry. There but for the grace of God go many of us! Signs won’t stop people from making mistakes but yes they will help. I don’t want a stop sign when I’m turning left. A Give Way sign is as obvious to me as is a Stop Sign. They both require a driver to approach a crossing with caution and be ready to stop. I don’t believe a stop sign versus a give way sign is the issue.
The real issue is to take care while driving, be doubly aware on a strange unfamiliar road and never stop concentrating when driving on familiar roads either. Statistics show the majority of accidents happen near our homes.
Please tell Council if you think a road needs attention and if crossings require upgrading. While we can’t fix every problem road tomorrow, we can budget to paint lines, improve signage and install warning signs and slowly but surely upgrade our road network. Upgrading roads is expensive and we simply can’t afford to do every road now!
So take care and help us by identifying areas needing attention but also by driving carefully. Cr David Dalgleish is the appropriate Councillor to contact as he is Chair of the relevant portfolio.
Lastly for Mr Chapman just in case he doesn’t know…. The CEO does the Council bidding. In that he is the servant of Council. His job is to see that Council and other Government policy and legislation is carried out. If you desire that our policies need changing it is the elected members that can make the changes not the CEO.
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- Comments(12)
Well said Sue. It is a shame the Chronicle does not want to employ a more positive reporting style.
“Our bodies aren’t designed to cope with a sudden stop or impact.” – In fact, they weren’t designed at all
So true Centophobia. Poor choice of words on my part!
Centophobia & Sue,
Are you both sure about that?
Sadman
Yep. Possibly the word evolved would be better but we are probably getting a bit pedantic!
I drove through the intersection in particular last night and I must say that if anyone misses it now, they really should grab a pair of scissors and cut their licence up on the spot!
The council has done a good job and there should be no mistaking the intersection now.. providing.. drivers are doing the proper speed along this section of road!
On that note, I have also witnessed unmarked police vehicles monitoring Teddington road in the past few weeks near the ‘problem’ intersection and I feel this will go a long way in reinforcing the message that it is a 60kmh zone.
So with all of your help it would be great to nominate other ‘problem’ intersections so that we can avoid another tragedy. Let me know of other ‘danger’ spots so we can focus on upgrading them. I’d rather do work now than wait for an accident… Thanks Ben for the feedback. Much appreciated, Sue
Some intersections are dangerous because of the overgrown grass on the footpaths due to the recent rain. And speaking of footpaths, Petersen Road at Craignish has a section of footpath where the grass is over 6 foot tall on both sides of the road, giving pedestrians no choice but to walk on the road on a most dangerous bend in the road.
I refer to the editorial in the paper stating that the CEO needs to stop and rethink…….well if I were the CEO, here is what I would respond with,
Dear Editor (or should I say, Mayor, CEO, Judge, Jury, Executioner, Capped Crusader, lobbyist and spokesperson for all that it good in our fraser coast society)
I refer to your editorial on the 25/2, and whilst I appreciate the views of yourself as editor of the paper, you have failed to provide a balanced view yet again.
I was in attendance at the meeting on Tuesday, you were not.
Your reporter who was there failed to report that at least one of the residents present stated that they felt that the give way sign was appropriate and a change may in fact make the intersection more dangerous.
Peter, I assume that you have been out to the site personally and had a look. I also assume that you have engaged professional traffic engineers to make an informed assessment of the site to make your editorial factual and not simply a public relations exercise.
I am not an engineer and I have never professed to be, nor am I an editor of a local paper. I base my decision on what is considered appropriate in the circumstances based on professional engineering and specialist advice and not on public opinion. The rationale for this is that it provides for a consistent approach based on safety issues and road design.
The Council has in fact replaced the give way signs with highly reflective signs, repainted the lines and warning, have give way ahead signs etc, however the fact remains that people who do not obey the road rules (ie speed limit in the area is 60kmh) will still not obey the road rules if a stop sign is installed on a side street.
However, when you are ready for a job swap for a day or a week, let me know and I will arrange it. In fact, I have already started on my first editorial specifically about my new temporary role, and I quote –
Having been given the opportunity to be editor for a day, I thought that research was a great place to start and I thought that I should define the role for the public. This is the best that I could come up with “Journalism is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, interpreting it incorrectly, and applying the wrong solutuion based on public opinion, scaremongering and fear in order to sell papers to people who simply don’t know better”
Patricia,
Please explain, does grass grow on footpaths?
Have you contacted council about this grass?
Is it council grass or is the grass on private property?
Lastly, why is it dangerous to walk on a road, I do it evey day
as do many other people. It’s the only place to walk if there
are no footpaths.
Sadman
Sadman, how sad or pedantic can anybody be?
.
Be graceful and seperate yourself from your own misery.
People comment/ask this forum here without being lectured.
Helping to find an answer is THE answer!
I have accidentaly come across similar personalities in other forums ( Lawn mowers, Real Estate, etc. ).
Please be positively complementary, not judgemental.
There is always sunshine after rain
Sue, I think you might have the right approach to keep your council comrades honest.
We have only been here since 2008 (coming from Adelaide ), but we are taking a great interest in the local agenda.
To all the good people asking for help, keep asking, someone will respond positively
Paracelsus,
I am not really sure what you are on about, maybe you aren’t either?
But, I am a great believer in that old saying “the Lord helps those that help themselves”.
Sadly, not many do any more, do they?
Sadman