Adelaide’s most dangerous school pedestrian crossings revealed

Police figures for Adelaide school crossings have been released, revealing where drivers are most likely to run red lights. See all the data here.

The red-light camera at the corner of Portrush Rd and Hay Rd, Linden Park. Picture Kelly Barnes

The RAA has released frightening figures showing schoolchildren are battling thousands of red-light runners at pedestrian crossings.

Around 20,000 drivers have been caught by police traps over the past four years, an increase of 25 per cent.

The two school crossings with the most offences are located on Portrush Road (near Linden Park Primary) and Kensington Road (Marryatville Primary School) – not far from the crossing at Marryatville High School where two students were hit by a truck earlier this year.

On Portrush Rd outside Linden Park Primary 582 motorists are caught on average every year and 446 near Marryatville Primary School.

Some school crossings do not have data identified or made public by police for the RAA to analyse, but of all crossings only six are not directly linked to primary schools.

RAA senior manager of safety and infrastructure Charles Mountain said the data showed many drivers were not showing due care around our most vulnerable road users.

“Pedestrian crossings are designed to provide a safe location for crossing the road, and it’s alarming to see the number of drivers disobeying the signals is increasing,” Mr Mountain said.

School students crossing at the red lights at the corner of Portrush Rd and Hay Rd at Linden Park, the crossing that topped the list. Picture Kelly Barnes

“These mid-block crossings are put near schools on major roads for good reason, and it is essential that drivers obey the red-light signals to avoid potentially catastrophic consequences.

“Many of these red light offences may be due to inattention or distraction, which is one of the Fatal 5 causes of road trauma in South Australia.

“This National Road Safety Week, RAA is raising awareness of the Fatal 5 and asking all road users to consider their behaviour on the road, amid our alarming fatality and serious injury numbers this year.”

Drivers are paying through the nose for their hazardous behaviour. Last year the fixed-camera fines cost South Australian motorists a total of $2,795,978, up from $1,705,266 only two years prior.

In 2022, the latest available figures, there were 4636 offences for disobeying red-light signals at pedestrian crossings, up an alarming 24.3 per cent from 3729 in 2019, according to SA Police data.