About 165 warden-controlled crossings that sit outside of school zones will become subject to 40km/h speed limits in a move that follows years of lobbying from worried parents across WA.
More than two dozen of the crossings are on roads where the speed limit is currently 70km/h or on major thoroughfares that make it difficult for school kids to cross safely, even with the help of wardens.
Transport Minister Rita Saffioti and Road Safety Minister David Michael announced the $10 million program on Monday, as well as the 11 locations that will be prioritised as part of the four-year rollout.
The 40km/h speed limits will align with existing school zones and apply from 7.30am to 9am and 2.30pm to 4pm during school terms.
When complete, every warden-controlled crossing in WA will have speeds limited to 40km/h during peak drop-off and pick-up times, a change Mr Michael said would give greater peace of mind to parents.
“We all know that getting our kids to and from school, whether they’re walking or cycling with their families, is of critical importance,” he said.
The program — which involves the installation of either electronic or static signage at all 165 locations — will be funded through the Road Trauma Trust Account, which receives all the revenue from driving infringements.
Cindy Webster, from the Ardross Primary School P&C, said she had spent seven years advocating for a 40km/h speed limit at the warden crossing near the corner of Drew Road and Riseley Street.
She said there had been a number of incidents involving school kids on the busy stretch, including a child that was hit by a car and hospitalised.
“Thankfully that car was being driven at a low speed and she wasn’t too badly injured — so it shows that 40km/h does work,” Ms Webster said.
Ms Saffioti said the Government received a lot of requests from schools and parents for speed reductions at warden crossings but previously lacked a “formal mechanism” to implement the changes.
“Now we’ve got our heads together to get a system of fixing all of them, so it’s not an ad hoc process,” she said.
The pre-Budget announcement comes a month after WA Police issued a “reminder” about speeding in school zones after infringing 401 motorists in the space of 80 minutes on Stirling Highway near McNeil Street in Peppermint Grove.
More than a quarter of drivers that passed through the crossing in that time were speeding, with two clocked doing nearly double the 40km/h limit.
Meanwhile, Mr Michael revealed the Department of Transport was in the process of procuring six mobile camera trailers that will soon be used to fine motorists using mobile phones or failing to wear a seatbelt.
A recent six-month trial of the technology in fixed point-to-point cameras on the freeway caught 66,000 people using their phones while driving and 11,400 who did not have a seatbelt on.
No one was fined because laws needed to be changed to allow police to infringe motorists caught by the cameras.
That legislation is before Parliament and likely to be passed by the middle of 2024, although Mr Michael said he did not yet have a “firm date” for when the cameras — which will also be utilised on smart freeway lanes north and south of Perth — will come into use.
He said the project involved transferring the infringement system from WA Police to the Department of Transport, which would allow fines to be paid off in instalments or deferred for up to a month for those in financial hardship.
“I’m really keen to make sure we bed down the system for current infringements … to make sure the system doesn’t have any errors or bugs before we introduce new types of fines,” Mr Michael said.
