FEATURE ARTICLE
 

 
"We talk a great deal about how cars congest our cities and pollute the atmosphere. We talk less about how they keep killing and maiming people simply trying to get from A to B on two feet."
 
Last month, Brunswick Residents Network (BRN) hosted a successful community meeting on walking in our neighbourhood, and how we can improve accessibility, mobility and safety for pedestrians.
 
Moreland Council’s recently adopted Moreland Integrated Transport Strategy (MITS) includes a number of proposals about infrastructure to improve cycling and make public transport move more freely through congestion – but what sort of investment do we want to assist pedestrians? 
 
Walking affects different people in different ways, and people at the meeting came to the issue from many perspectives. Some focused on safety for women walking around our suburbs at night – others highlighted the hazards to children walking to school from rat-running traffic. Elderly people often highlight the dangers crossing major roads in Brunswick or the poor quality of footpaths. People with disabilities battle crowded footpaths and some road crossings lack safety sounds or markers. With many new construction projects around Brunswick, many developers fail to properly fix footpaths and road surfaces that have been ripped up for water, electricity and gas lines.
 
A summary of the presentations to the meeting can be found at the Walk on Moreland Facebook page. The following sections highlight a number of different issues arising from the meeting. 

Pedestrian safety In Moreland
 
Andrea Bunting of Walk on Moreland recently looked at pedestrian deaths and injury statistics. These show that, per capita, Moreland municipality has the second highest death rate for pedestrians in Melbourne - much higher than neighbouring Darebin - despite getting less publicity than cyclist fatalities.  

According to data from the Traffic Accident Commission (TAC) and Department of Transport, more than 400 pedestrians lost their lives on Victorian roads in the last 10 years. One third of pedestrians who lost their lives are aged 70 years or over. Most (74 per cent) lost their lives in metropolitan Melbourne and most (67 per cent) were male. Over the last five years, an average of 37 pedestrians were killed each year on Victorian roads. Of the 37 pedestrian lives lost in 2018, 43 per cent lost their lives on roads sign posted at 60km/hr or lower. 

In Moreland municipality, pedestrians make up 55 per cent of road deaths. Per capita, our municipality is also the 4th worst in Melbourne for serious injuries. Our rate of pedestrian trauma is nearly twice the rate of the whole state. According to TAC records, dangerous areas in Moreland for pedestrians include: Bell St; Sydney Road; Gaffney Street; Lygon Street; Dawson Street; Nicholson Street near Moreland Road; Pascoe Vale Road near Glenroy shops.
 
Every time a car hits a pedestrian, it represents the intersection of a vast number of variables. At the level of those involved, there is the question of who is distracted, reckless, drunk, or on the phone. Beyond this, there are factors such as the design and condition of the road, the quality (or absence) of a marked pedestrian crossing, the speed limit, the local lighting, the weight and height of the car involved.
 
Community education is important but it’s not enough. We need to stop telling children and seniors to take greater care and create road environments that take care of them. Rather than blaming the victim, state and local government can take initiatives on road design at traffic lights, unsignalised intersections, roundabouts, mid-block locations, and footpaths, driveways and carparks. 
 
Suggestions for action by councils and Department of Transport can be found in “Safer road design for older pedestrians”, a 2016 report by Victoria Walks:
 
Mantilla, J. and Burtt, D. (2016). “Safer road design for older pedestrians”. Victoria Walks, Melbourne. August 2016.
 
New ideas from the City of Melbourne
 
Being a pedestrian is becoming increasingly dangerous in major urban centres around the world. For example, 41 per cent more US pedestrians were killed in 2018 than in 2008. A recent report in the Guardian notes: “In almost every country in the world, regardless of national prosperity, it remains on average more dangerous, per mile of travel, to be a pedestrian than to be a car driver or passenger.” Just why pedestrian deaths – which were gradually decreasing for many years – are now rising, is now under the microscope. This article discusses the relationship between car dependency, speed and vehicle type (e.g. SUVs); and pedestrian deaths:   

At September’s BRN meeting, we heard an interesting presentation from Tim Lecky and Murray West from the consultancy firm MR Cagney. They prepared a “Walking Discussion Paper” for the City of Melbourne, as it was developing a new traffic strategy for the CBD and surrounding suburbs. The City of Melbourne has just released its “Traffic Strategy 2030”, which outlines a number of measures to reduce through traffic in the busiest parts of the CBD.  

The Melbourne strategy flags trials of lower speed limits for some ‘Little streets’ (Little Collins, Little Bourke etc) to continue the creation of pedestrian-priority zones at peak times. These shared zones aim to better support the CBD’s retail economy and café culture. The move will boost economic activity through increased footfall in retail and hospitality precincts, and improve safety for people walking in the city centre. Retail and hospitality contribute a combined $5.7 billion to the city’s economy every year (something that Sydney Road traders might want to reflect upon).
 
Other projects to be delivered in the first four years include introducing protected bike lanes on Exhibition Street, Latrobe Street Bridge and Rathdowne Street, and 300 new on-street motorcycle parking spaces. Melbourne Council will work with the Victorian Government to deliver consistent 40 km/h vehicle speed limits across the municipality, with removal of current 50kph limits in Parkville Gardens, North and West Melbourne and Yarra's Edge.
 
Long-term objectives include:
1. Reduce by half the number of people killed or seriously injured on our streets. That number today is 231 annually. By 2040 they want it to be zero.
2. Reduce by half the proportion of central city-through traffic.
3. Increase public transport, walking and cycling mode share to 70 per cent of all trips.
4. Increase the proportion of women cycling to 40 per cent. It is currently at 24 per cent.
 
Community organising
 
A feature of the discussion at the BRN meeting was the need for local residents and businesses to actively campaign for particular pedestrian projects. Moreland Council staff have a 10-year capital works program already mapped out, and there’s a need to lobby to re-prioritise funds or seek extra finance for new projects.
 
Local community activists Helen Macdonald and Helen Kratzmann discussed positive campaigns that have seen change in our neighbourhoods. McDonald outlined the successful campaign for a foot/bike bridge over the Merri Creek to link with Northcote, due to be built this financial year, with work on the foundations well under way. Funding for the multi-million-dollar project will come from both Moreland and Darebin Councils, an interesting example of the synergy that comes at transport boundaries and interconnections.

Helen Kratzmann is from the group Pedestrian Safety for Nicholson Street, Coburg and a leader of the successful campaign for mid-block pedestrian lights in Holmes Street. This new crossing links apartments and an IGA supermarket with a mosque and houses on the other side, on one of the busiest and hazardous areas in Brunswick and Coburg. Local residents continue to advocate for further safety improvements around the Holmes Street and Albion Street intersection, and north along Nicholson Street. 

 Octopus safety for school children
 
A central challenge is to improve safety for children walking or riding to local public schools such as Brunswick primary schools – South, South West, North, North West – Princes Hill and Brunswick Secondary Colleges, as well as many independent schools.
 
In recent years, neighbouring Darebin Council has been running an “Octopus School” program to invest in safety infrastructure alongside behaviour change programs to make it safer to walk, cycle or skate to school. The Octopus School initiative gets parents and teachers to work directly with Council to identify issues in the school precinct, including possible traffic infrastructure such as raised crossings, footpath improvements or signage identifying safer routes to school. 

The original pilot in 2018 saw a call for primary schools to apply for over $100,000 of investment in and around the school (it’s now up to $150,000)! After choosing a school, the Council budgeted finance and staff time for intensive assistance throughout the year, including the development of safe and active travel programs and construction of new infrastructure.
 
Reservoir West Primary School piloted the Octopus School Program during 2018 and is now running Bike Ed for all students in Grade 3 to Grade 6, with the use of their brand new fleet of 18 bicycles, stored in a newly built bike shed. The school held a competition to design decals that were applied to the road surface outside the school, pointing the way and the distance.

In early 2019, Newlands Primary School was selected as the second school in Darebin to take part in the Octopus School program. They have received new bike and scooter parking that will shelter 18 bikes and 18 scooters from the weather, while a student and parent survey generated data on travelling actively to school. (This school is just outside Moreland's boundary so the program benefits many Moreland children). 
 
In Brunswick, parents and local residents could mirror this process, in co-operation with Moreland Council traffic engineers. A starting point would be to conduct road safety audits along priority routes through the South Ward. These audits can identify key infrastructure and road safety improvements, ranging from better school facilities (e.g. secure bike parking) to local works (e.g. pedestrian refuges at crossing points on busier roads). Then it’s a matter of getting Council to stump up the money and prioritise the work. Parents or teachers in local schools can get in touch with BRN, to discuss how we can make this work in Brunswick. Any takers out there?
 
October is Walk to School month, promoted by VicHealth – you can find out more about health and safety for children on the way to school in the VicHealth report “Strategies to encourage active travel to school”:  

WHAT: Brunswick Residents Network follow-up forum on pedestrian safety
WHEN: Tuesday 12 November 2019, 6.30pm - 8.00pm
WHERE: St Ambrose Community Centre, 287 Sydney Road Brunswick (just north of Dawson Street)
INFO: Contact Nancy on 0490 182 041 or Andrea on 0424 508 535
 
For further info:
 
Walk on Moreland has a Facebook page with lots of info and updates on getting around our municipality on foot.
Victoria Walks has news and information on walking around Melbourne and regional Victoria, and reports on safety, health and accessibility.