The residents of Point Clare remain perplexed about the reluctance of NSW Roads and Maritime Services to heed their concerns about the dangerous traffic conditions around Point Clare Public School.
Local resident, Mr Anthony Buckley AM, said his letters to Mr Ian Reynolds, the Administrator of Central Coast Council and CEO, Mr Rob Noble, have gone unanswered. Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Mr Scot MacDonald, met with Mr Buckley and other concerned residents to see for himself the situation on Brisbane Water Dve and in Scott St and Takari Ave. Mr MacDonald subsequently described the traffi c conditions around Point Clare Public School on ABC Local Radio as “a mess”. Former Gosford Councillor, Mr Bob Ward, also attended the meeting between residents and Mr MacDonald. The meeting discussed the current Roads and Maritime Services safety review of Brisbane Water Dve, through Point Clare.
The residents are campaigning for a 40km per hour School Zone on Brisbane Water Dve because of the volume of peak morning and afternoon traffi c travelling along Brisbane Water Dve, adjacent to Point Clare Public School. Another issue raised was the parlous condition of Scott St and Takari Ave and the traffi c build up there when school drop-offs and pick-ups take place. Mr MacDonald indicated that he would follow up residents’ concerns with RMS. “He took away with him a specially prepared compendium of everything to date including the comparative maps of the RMS and our own maps,” Mr Buckley said. “Now if only RMS would come and see for themselves,” he said. A week after Mr MacDonald’s inspection of traffi c conditions around the public school, a bus stop on the Woy Woy bound side of Brisbane Water Dve, directly across the busy road from the front of the school, “disappeared”, Mr Buckley said.
“I walked to the train station one morning and the bus stop was there but when I walked home that afternoon, it was gone,” he said. Inquiries to Central Coast Council resulted in Mr Buckley being referred to Mr Malcolm Britt at Busways and Ms Bronwyn Bosse at RMS. “Busways were instructed by RMS six months ago to remove the bus stop. “Evidently a notice was issued but no one has ever seen it. “The intransigence from the RMS about Point Clare School’s need for road safety is clear,” Mr Buckley said.
Mr Buckley and another concerned resident, Ms Tracey Hawkins-Budge, whose daughter attends the public school, have been crunching data from the RMS interactive crash site webpage. “The data gathered was from the Coles intersection at Brisbane Water Dve through to the Glenrock Pde roundabout near the railway bridge at Point Clare. “In a nutshell, in the 2011-2015 time period, there were 71 accidents with varying degrees of seriousness,” Ms HawkinsBudge said. “Seventeen of these occurred between the Glenrock Pde roundabout and Penang St, a distance of about 800m. “Drilling down, fi ve were at the Talinga-Brisbane Water Dve intersection near Aldi.
“Three were in front of the school, while one was at Takari and the other at Scott St. Two were between Scott and Penang. “Interestingly, I have found no stats which show any accidents occurring at Penang St, so I wonder why they have suggested putting a roundabout there,” she said. Mr Buckley has also contacted other schools on the Central Coast to ascertain the pedestrian safety and traffi c management measures they have in place to protect their students. He said Woy Woy South Public School has a 40 km per hour zone on three streets including Blackwall Rd, a road comparable to Brisbane Water Dve.
The street also has two pedestrian crossings while Point Clare Public School does not have one. Woy Woy South has two sets of traffi c lights and a speed camera. Gosford Public School told Mr Buckley it had 40km per hour school zones on two streets and a pedestrian crossing. The school also has a patrolled kiss and drop zone on Faunce St. Niagara Park Public School has a 40km per hour zone and two pedestrian crossings.
“Point Clare Public School has no 40km zone on Brisbane Water Dve, no pedestrian crossings, no lights, and the traffi c density around the school is extremely heavy. “If anyone can make sense of the above, let alone justify it, then they are doing better than I am.” Mr Buckley said he hoped that Mr MacDonald would assist to steer RMS in the right direction before the commencement of the 2017 school year.
Email, Dec 12, 2016 Anthony Buckley, Point Clare Email, Dec 5, 2016 Tracey Hawkins-Budge, Point Clare Jackie Pearson, journalist