Road safety funds omit Teesdale despite fatal crash

SOME Golden Plains Shire residents have expressed disappointment that none of the State Government funding for road safety in the municipality will be spent in Teesdale.

The $2 million in funding obtained by Golden Plains Shire through the safer local roads and streets program will fund six projects in Bannockburn, Smythesdale, Inverleigh, Haddon and Ross Creek.

Works will include the addition of raised pedestrian crossings, speed limit reductions and intersection upgrades.

However, no works will occur in Teesdale despite six-year-old Caleb Wesley being killed crossing Bannockburn-Shelford Road in March.

“I just felt a real kick in the guts when I read [about the funding] for Caleb’s family and all the families who put their kids on buses to school,” Golden Plains Shire resident Andrea Bolton said.

“Still people report to me on a very regular basis about near misses.

“People haven’t just moved on… people who live in Teesdale live with the daily reminder every single day.”

Teesdale’s Bannockburn-Shelford is managed by the Department of Transport and Planning, however, the safer local roads and streets program funds work on roads managed by Local Government.

“The guidelines for the safe local roads and streets program specifically state arterial roads are not eligible for funding,” a Golden Plains Shire spokesperson said.

“Council officers explored whether there was flexibility to allow for works on the Bannockburn-Shelford Road at Teesdale and it was confirmed that any proposal on this road was not eligible.

“Projects were chosen on a risk-based approach on local council-managed roads in consultation with relevant State Government officers and a traffic management consultant.”

Ms Bolton said despite the road not falling under the safer local roads and streets programs jurisdiction, she would have liked to have seen some acknowledgement of Teesdale by Golden Plains Shire.

“There could have even been an acknowledgment that ‘we are very well aware of what happened at Teesdale, this may not have been the avenue that we could have got the money to do this, but we are promising the Teesdale residents we are doing everything we can’,” she said.

“There are roads around the main road that maybe they could have used some funding to have stops off those roads.

“There is just nothing there giving people any hope that this is going to change.”

Since the accident, the 40-kilometre-per-hour zone during school hours has been moved by the Department of Transport and Planning to the west of the general store

In August, the Department of Transport and Planning said the section of Bannockburn-Shelford Road between Sutherland Street and Teesdale-Inverleigh Road at Teesdale does not meet the criteria for a 40-kilometre-per-hour pedestrian activity precinct.