Plea to slow cars along horror black spot

ONE year after Annerley residents staged a town hall meeting to push for lower speed limits on Ipswich Rd, efforts to fix it have stalled.

Ili Bone with her children Evie Leonard 8 and Jo Leonard 9 at Moorooka. She is concerned about traffic safety on Ipswich Rd at Annerley where there have been 94 crashes since 2015. Picture: AAP/Ric Frearson

ONE year after Annerley residents staged a town hall meeting to push for lower speed limits on Ipswich Rd, efforts to fix the notorious black spot are still stuck in low gear.

Despite slashing the speed limit on Ann St in the CBD from 60kmh to 40kmh after pedestrian safety concerns, Brisbane City Council claims it is powerless to do the same on Ipswich Rd near Junction Park State School.

Create Annerley co-ordinator Ili Bone said the council was hiding behind State Government guidelines on placement of school zones to justify its inaction.

“Council imposed a school zone on Gloucester St even though it is not adjacent to Brisbane State High School, but say they can’t do the same outside Junction Park State School because it is not adjacent to Ipswich Rd,’’ Ms Bone said.

“Council has also implemented pedestrian safety zones elsewhere.”

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Ms Bone said it was now one year since they surveyed Annerley residents in the lead-up to a town hall meeting on Ipswich Rd.

“Since then, despite our petitions to lower the speed limit and pressure from Councillor Nicole Johnston (Tennyson), none of the problems reported have been addressed,’’ she said.

“Although it was a great initiative, pedestrian feedback on BCC’s Movesafe website did not accurately or completely represent the way Annerley locals experience Ipswich Rd.

Ms Bone said there were numerous examples of the council taking action after accidents, including in 2016 at a Moorooka intersection where her son was nearly hit by a car.

“A right-turn arrow (protecting pedestrians) was installed within months,’’ she said.

“The same swift, traffic engineering-led response (by Council) was apparent when Penny Barringham was killed on Annerley Rd, in Woolloongabba.’’

“Council has taken action to install pedestrian zones in other, less accident-prone areas of

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Brisbane, so why are we not seeing anything happen on Ipswich Rd?’’

A Council spokesman said it could not implement a school zone in Gloucester St, South Brisbane, because of the State Government’scurrent guidelines for school zones, since it was not adjacent to any school.

“Council is currently reviewing pedestrian safety on Ipswich Rd in Annerley as part of the Pedestrian Safety Review,’’ he said.

“More than 6400 pieces of feedback from the Move Safe Brisbane Survey are being reviewed, as well as Queensland Police crash data, to determine the location and cause of pedestrian safety incidents.’’

Cr Nicole Johnston. PIicture: AAP/Ric Frearson

Cr Johnston said: “Despite repeated requests from the resident action group, Geoff’s (Dr Geoffrey Copland, who died in Septemberat a Venner Rd intersection while out walking) family and me, Council is still refusing to fast track a safety review of the Ipswich/Venner Rd intersection or slow traffic through the Junction to 40kmh.

“The Lord Mayor’s (Cr Graham Quirk) inaction is unconscionable given an innocent man died standing the footpath on Venner Rd and numerous pedestrians have been hit while crossing Ipswich Rd at the lights.”

She said she had also repeatedly emailed senior Council traffic engineers but they had not responded to her requests for information.