Citizen's jury makes unanimous decision on road dispute: Minister

7/8/01

Western Australia's first planning-focussed citizen's jury has unanimously agreed that the Everingham Street and Reid Highway intersection in Carine should remain open.
Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the jury also developed a range of safety recommendations that the Government would implement as soon as possible.
The 12-member jury made the decision on Saturday, July 28 after hearings and deliberations that included presentations from lobby groups for and against the closure of the intersection, and consideration of more than 150 community responses.
Ms MacTiernan said the State Government had accepted the jury's recommendations which provided a resolution to the almost decade long road dispute.
"In making its decision, the jury gave strong consideration to a range of key local issues - including the safety of children attending local schools and playgrounds, access for buses and emergency services," Ms MacTiernan said.
"It also considered the issue of local traffic access to and from Reid Highway without displacing the traffic onto inappropriate streets.
"As part of the jury's careful deliberations, the group considered 10 different options for the intersection and other road treatments including the partial or full closure of Everingham Street.
"However, the jury's unanimous recommendation was to leave Everingham Street fully open."
Ms MacTiernan said however it was important to ensure that the traffic projections on which the jury based their decision matched reality.
"Consequently, traffic counts will be taken, starting six weeks from now for a period of two weeks to enable traffic predictions to be compared with real data," she said.
"Traffic counts will be repeated six weeks after the completion of the first count.
"This information will be provided to the jury and the community as soon as it becomes available."
Ms MacTiernan said the jury had suggested a number of measures to limit traffic speed and volume, and enable safe crossing of Everingham Street.
"A road safety audit will be conducted immediately to examine the area around the school and adjacent streets including Osmaston Road, Almadine Street and Silica Road," she said.
"The section of Everingham Street on approach to and fronting the school will be included in the recently introduced 'School Zone' trial that will see large 40km/hr markings painted on the road surface.
"Traffic calming options will also be developed and then implemented before the beginning of the 2002 school year on Everingham Street between Osmaston and Silica roads. Improvements initiated on this important local road will be funded as part of the overall Reid Highway extension project."
Ms MacTiernan said she had instructed Main Roads to negotiate with the City of Stirling and to ensure that these recommendations were implemented as quickly as possible.
She said other recommendations made by the jury were -

• request the WA Police Service for a school 'lolly pop' crossing within the next month;
• erect a sign on Everingham Street highlighting that radar detectors are being used in the area;
• request local schools to continue with road safety education of students, and parents picking up and dropping children at school;
• after six months of monitoring, examine alternative options, including traffic lights, if accident rates are above a specified level;
• repeat a safety audit after traffic-calming measures have been implemented to determine their effectiveness, and implement alternative options if new safety outcomes are not achieved; and
• in longer-term planning, examine the option of a one-way circuit of roads around the school precinct - although recognising that it did not meet the concerns regarding local access.

Ms MacTiernan said the breadth of recommendations to resolve the issue, and the professional manner in which it was investigated, indicated that the jury had been highly successful.
"Like similar models in the UK and Germany, the Citizen's jury in Carine has proven to be an excellent example of community democracy," she said.
"In this case, local residents have found a solution to a dispute which encompasses the interests of the whole community."
Media contact: Kaye Hopkins 9213 6400