Calls for safety upgrades to ‘dangerous’ intersection

Residents have reported a number of near misses at the intersection in the last week.

Bargara parents are supporting calls from Burnett MP Stephen Bennett to have works done to make one of the area's busiest intersections safer for schoolchildren.

Many parents and users of the Bargara and Hughes Rd intersection have reported a number of near misses in the last week alone since school started again for the year.

But the government says crash history at the intersection had been "historically low".

Local mum Kira-Lee Honor's two children attend Bargara State School, a short bike ride from the intersection.

Ms Honor said her kids like to ride to school from their home near Kelly's Beach, but due to safety concerns she drives them to a point where they don't have to cross the road with their bikes.

She described the intersection as playing "Russian roulette".

"For the kids to get to school they have to cross Bargara Rd which is a seriously busy road," she said.

"There are multiple occurrences where I've seen children nearly get hit.

"The government's all about getting kids fit and healthy and active, and they want us to let our kids do exercise so you think riding to school is a great thing to do but you're playing Russian roulette with your children letting them cross the road."

Ms Honor said she was surprised something bad hadn't already happened.

"In the school community, talking to other parents they're surprised too," she said.

"We just think maybe a lollipop lady, so that we're not holding up traffic all day and we're just getting them across that road during school times."

Bargara State School student Pria Grills rides to school every day and she said the crossing was "pretty dangerous" because they had to "squish in".

"I ride with a lot of others, maybe six others … we can't really do one by one because there's not enough older kids to pair up with them," she said.

Burnett MP Stephen Bennett and local parents are calling on the government to make the intersection of Hughes Rd and Bargara Rd safer.

 

Both Burnett MP Stephen Bennett and local Division 5 councillor Greg Barnes said they've both received a number of calls and emails from residents concerned about the busy intersection.

"Already this year we've seen some car accidents, but more importantly and of concern are the near misses with school children," Mr Bennett said.

"Over the years we've done petitions and called out this issue, but I think what's changed is the opening of Hughes Rd from Watsons Rd and the construction activity.

"We clearly have an increase of population, we clearly have an increase of vehicular movements on this road.

"School has only been back a week and we've already heard of three near misses that have been reported."

Mr Barnes said he receives more complaints about the Bargara Rd and Hughes Rd intersection than any other in his division.

"I think it comes from a few factors. One of them is the hump in the road just to the east and the other is school kids cross this road on a daily basis," he said.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said TMR road safety experts would continue to assess the safety at the intersection, but crashes at the site were "historically low".

"TMR's road safety experts have assessed this intersection and advised in a response to a community petition last year that the crash history at this location has been historically low," he said.

"But TMR will continue to assess safety at this intersection, building on our investments in the Bundaberg region like the $42.5 million Isis Highway upgrades and funding we recently secured to upgrade to the Bargara Road and Seaview Road intersection near the school."

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