A tiny rural school is asking why they still don't have a 40km/h school zone to keep its students safe.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Newlyn Primary School is right next to a major intersection on the Midland Highway, and sits in an 80km/h zone.
At school times - in the morning and afternoon - flashing lights indicate a change to a 60km/h zone.
Principal Samantha Vella said her 11 students had gotten used to the screeching of truck brakes outside.
"It doesn't impact a lot of people, but if it's 40km/h for every other school, then why not us?" she said.
"Even though it's a 60km/h zone and there's a roundabout right in front of us, people still don't slow down, and the amount of near misses that aren't calculated in any data set is concerning as well."
One parent, Aimee Harbour, lives across the road from the school and makes sure she accompanies her daughter Mackenzie every day.
"It's becoming a higher anxiety for me, because these kids are one day going to want to cross the road (themselves) to go to school and I'm just not comfortable with them doing that at all, because people just don't slow down," she said.
"People still go 80km/h even though there's a roundabout there."
The RACV is pushing the state government to make every school zone 40km/h - senior transport manager Peter Kartsidimas said there were 148 schools across the state without them.
"Every child deserves to go to school and be safe, and no one child is more important than the other," he said.
"A lot of people we've spoken to have asked VicRoads in the past to reduce the speed limits, and they've heard a lot of excuses, they're quite supportive of what we're doing, but the RACV alone can't make this change, we need the parents and teachers at these schools to get in touch with their local members and demand it.
"This should be a simple one that's easy to address - if we can't resolve this, it makes the other conversations even more difficult, we've got to show some leadership here and get his done to continue other conversations, particularly in regional areas."
While the Department of Transport hasn't received a formal approach from Newlyn Primary School about changing the speed zone or design of the intersection, schools zones are determined on a case-by-case basis, and schools are encouraged to discuss concerns.
School zones are usually on roads abutting an access gate to the school, as that's usually where pedestrians cross.
Typically, 60km/h zones are set on roads with a speed limit of 80km/h or more, but if pedestrian activity changes outside a school, consideration is given to changing it to 40km/h.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said in a statement safety, especially for children as some of the most vulnerable road users, is always the highest priority.
"Pedestrian crossings and associated school speed limits are assessed on a case by case basis and take many factors into account including pedestrian volumes, crash history, traffic volumes, types of road users, the road environment and how the school is accessed," they said.
"We work closely with councils, the Department of Education and communities on providing safe road infrastructure around schools."
Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.
