Claims of being held up 11 minutes by speeding taffic on Devon Road have not impressed councillors in Claremont

CLAREMONT councillors want staff to reconsider claims traffic speeding causes residents to spend up to 11 minutes getting out of their Devon Road driveways despite some saying there is no problem to solve.

“Just because someone says “I don’t like something’ does not mean we should ho down a course of action which may not solve it,” Cr Bruce Haynes said at last night’s meeting.

A council report said a sole resident on the west side of the road requested a traffic review because on-road parking and speeding traffic make it dangerous to get out of his driveway.

The steep street, which is designated a local distributor with up to 6000 vehicles daily, had speed humps until they were removed when the route was rebuilt in 2012.

Mayor Jock Barker said value of speed humps could be measured by those installed the length of Anzac Parade in Mount Hawthorn being removed just several years later.

The report said a count of traffic on Devon Road found the average weekday traffic in both directions was 1993 vehicles, among which those in the top 15 per cent of speeds started at 46.8kmh in the 50km zone.

This compared with a count in 2016 that found 1943 daily vehicles had the top 15 per cent of speeds starting at 51.1kmh, 2105 vehicles (49.3kmh) in 2015 and 1608 (36kmh) in 2010.

The report said speeds appeared to have reached as plateau in 2015.

However, the results were contested on the grounds some fast and other very slow vehicles could distort the statistics, while residents could still get the impression of some speeding.

“All you need it 10 per cent of cars travelling at hoon speed, and 10 per cent travelling at nanna speed and you’ll still get the same result,” Cr Peter Browne said.

Cr Browne said the council would not propose refitting speed hump because they were too noisy

He proposed Devon Street residents between Shenton Road and Mitford Street be asked for their levels of concern and possible solutions, including traffic calming, to the claimed speeding and safety of their road.

However, it was instead agreed to refer the issue back to the staff for their reconsideration.