Motorists urged to slow down in Rosewood as schools go back
Published on 02 February 2021
Motorists are being urged to slow down especially around school zones and to be aware of pedestrians as students go back to school for 2021.
Snowy Valleys Councillors joined Highway Patrol and teachers, parents, and students from Rosewood Public School to put a spotlight on the issues of speed in the town.
“It’s not acceptable that the most common speed in Rosewood, outside the 40km school zone is 63km/h, when the town speed limit is actually 60km/h,” said Snowy Valleys Council Mayor James Hayes.
“Road safety especially around schools has been a passion of mine since I began teaching and all these years later, we are still asking drivers to slow down and obey the speed limits especially near schools where there are high concentrations of pedestrians,” he said.
Rosewood community members said there had been several close calls between motorists and school age pedestrians, as students try to cross the road, especially between the Golf Course and Humula Street.
“We have heard the concerns from the P&C and other Rosewood community members about the dangers posed by speed in the town and as a Council we are advocating with Transport for NSW for the town speed limit to be reduced to 50km/h as well as the possible introduction of speed cameras near the school,” said Cr Hayes.
“School students do not have the life experience to judge the safe distances for cars travelling at speed and it’s not right that they should have to risk their lives just to cross the road safely,” said Cr Hayes.
Other Snowy Valleys’ school zones that have also raised considerable concern about speed including Tumbarumba High School, Brungle Public School and Franklin Public School where main roads pass close to the school grounds.
“We know speed is one of the main contributors to fatalities on our roads and excessive speed leaves no time for a driver to react. We need people to just slow down,” Cr Hayes said.
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
- Over the last five years there have been five recorded crashes in and around Rosewood where police attended
- The common daily recorded speed over the last week between the Golf Course and Humula Street in Rosewood was 64 km per hour in a 60km zone.
- In 2019 Snowy Valleys Council road crash rate was four times the state average thanks to narrow roads with curves and motorists travelling at high speeds.
- Over 45% of reported road crashes in the Snowy Valleys are caused by speed.
- NSW Crash Data 2015 -2019
- The typical stopping distance on reasonable road surfaces for vehicles travelling at 60 km/hr is 58metres (longer than a 50m swimming pool) while for vehicles travelling at 50 km/hr the typical stopping distance is 38metres - NSW Centre for Road Safety
Photo credit:
Snowy Valleys Councillors Cr James Hayes, Cr Julia Ham, Cr Cor Smit, Cr Bruce Wright and CEO Matthew Hyde with Constable Tod Chapman and students, parents and teachers from Rosewood Public School urging motorists to slow down.
- Cooper Rankin Year 2 (student)
- Sam Baker Year 6 (student)
- Nicholas Baker Year 1 (Student)
- Sarah White (Rosewood Public School P&C Secretary and parent)
- Evan Rankin Year 5 (student)
- Serena Matto (Rosewood Store and parent)
- Cameron Bremner (Rosewood Public School Principal)
- Melissa Doughty (Rosewood Public School P&C President and parent)