The South Beach Traffic Action Group want speed limit changes to make it safer for locals.
April Bryant
Camera IconThe South Beach Traffic Action Group want speed limit changes to make it safer for locals. April Bryant Credit: Supplied/April Bryant

Group wants lower limit

Bryce LuffCockburn Gazette

South Beach Traffic Action Group chairman Thorsten Goedicke said rat runners skipping the queues on Douro Road, Hampton Road and Cockburn Road were making the area’s tiny streets, which were designed to handle only local traffic, unsafe.

“Residents are not only concerned with pedestrian and cyclist safety in the estate in general but particularly with safety of children,” he said.

“The estate is one of the most densely populated residential areas of Perth and with every new apartment block currently built or planned, we will increase in resident numbers.”

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The issues felt by locals living in the area south of Douro Road and north of Rollinson Road will likely increase with the revamp of the Cockburn Coast to deliver three new precincts and be home to 12,000 people within two decades.

But the area is already expanding quickly.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics recently reported North Coogee was the fastest growing area in Perth, increasing 23 per cent to 1700 people in 2014-15.

“In the end we want our neighbourhood to be safe for all road users – pedestrians, cyclists and motorists,” Mr Goedicke said.

“A 40km/h zone is needed so all road users understand that they are driving through a densely populated residential area and they have a responsibility to drive safely to protect all those who use our roads.”

The local group has found support from Cockburn councillor Lyndsey Sweetman, who joined Deputy Mayor Carol Reeve-Fowkes and engineering and works services director Charles Sullivan, Fremantle councillor Andrew Sullivan and Greens MLC Lynn MacLaren at a gathering at Barrow Park to push for change.

“A reduction of the speed limit to 40km/h will give a clear message to motorists that they are not driving through a thoroughfare or taking a rat run, but that they should be making their way carefully through a family-oriented community area,” Ms Sweetman said.

A Main Roads WA spokeswoman said an application to reduce the speed limits in the area was rejected last month after being assessed against Main Roads policy and application guidelines.

Charles Sullivan said the City was working with the local action group to provide more information to Main Roads WA.

A petition for change and featuring more than 100 signatures should be tabled in State parliament in May.