Flashing school zone signs get mixed reviews from parents and principal

A primary school principal has commended the success of flashing school zone signs on one of the busiest roads north of Brisbane, despite parents’ continued concerns.

Richelle MacArthur’s sons Oliver and Lincoln attend Hercules Road State School where there have been issues with traffic. Pic: Josh Woning.

Hercules Road State School principal Stephen Auer has commended the success of flashing school zone signs, despite concerned parents lashing out at dangerous drivers.

The lights were installed on Anzac Ave, Kippa-Ring in January to signify a 40km/h zone during drop off and pick up times after a four-year-old boy was struck by a car there in 2016.

Sue Melville generated 78 reactions and 45 comments on a Facebook post asking motorists to slow down between 7-9am and 2-4pm.

“It doesn’t matter whether you drive a Land Rover or a Volvo, or you’re a tradie on the way to a job — that school zone also applies to you!” she wrote.

Richelle MacArthur with Oliver and Lincoln of Kippa-Ring from the Hercules Road State School. Pic: Josh Woning.

Mother of two boys who attend the school, Richelle MacArthur, said the lights had encouraged dangerous driving behaviour.

“The traffic has probably slowed a little bit, but the problem you still have there is it’s such a busy road and there’s so much traffic that people are in a rush,” she said.

“You get people speeding up to run the orange lights and do illegal U-turns.

“They do the U-turns on the green arrow at the same time children get the green man (to cross Anzac Ave).”

But Mr Auer said he was “significantly less worried” since the lights were installed.

Hercules Rd State School principal Stephen Auer.

“The bottom line is the lights have made a big difference to slowing vehicles down,” he said.

“There could be further improvements, but boy-o-boy, how do they do that?

“Students cross that road in probably 10 minutes at peak time — can you for example put an overpass in for 10 minutes a day?”

A second set of flashing school signs will be installed on Hercules Rd during this financial year, but no date has been set.

A petition was created this year calling for an overpass to be built, but the Department of Transport and Main Roads has refused to comment on its likeliness on multiple occasions.

“Since the school zone was implemented, there have been no recorded crashes involving pedestrians,” a TMR spokeswoman said.