Cairns Esplanade traffic ban: Restaurant owner’s warning over near misses
An Esplanade trader has warned the city’s outdoor dining precinct will soon need a memorial to a dead child unless cars are banned.
Cairns
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cairns. Followed categories will be added to My News.
AN ESPLANADE trader has warned the city’s outdoor dining precinct will soon need a memorial to a dead child unless cars are banned.
Daniel Rhodes owns the Churro Time restaurant out the front of the Cairns Night Markets, giving him the perfect vantage point to see how cars and pedestrians interact at all times of the day.
His experience has been chilling on what he calls an “unbelievably dangerous” shared traffic zone.
“Since it has been opened, I have seen countless close calls of children running onto the road, just to be snatched up by their parents at the last second,” he said.
“I just called it a road, but that is the problem – it doesn’t look like a road at all.
“I know it is a road and when I have my 18-month-old daughter playing around that area, I am on edge.”
The switch from black bitumen to a modern, piazza-style road surface between Shields and Aplin streets has created an attractive urban oasis.
Mr Rhodes believed it had also created a lethal level of confusion among both locals and visitors.
“I had a taxi driver pull out of the rank and throttle up to at least 45km/h and almost run my daughter over just last Friday,” he said.
“I flagged him to slow down, but he didn’t even slow one bit.
“Imagine being a tourist and having your child there, seeing what looks almost identical to the adjacent footpath.
“All it takes is for a lull of traffic and they would let their child play there without a thought of the possibility of traffic.”
Cairns Regional Council spent $28m on the dining precinct upgrade but has so far been unable to decide what to do about traffic.
A council spokesman said the matter would be decided upon at an upcoming meeting on Wednesday next week despite early talk of a special meeting being called sooner.
Mr Rhodes argued there was no reason for public traffic to drive down the road since it no longer had parking spaces except for commercial vehicle and loading zones.
“They can’t stop, they can’t park, and the part of the Esplanade it leads to is still accessible from Aplin St anyway,” he said.
“I wouldn’t usually make a fuss about something like this, but I believe for children this is one of the most dangerous places to be in Cairns at the moment.
“Cairns council designed it to be a family-friendly area with benches, smooth rocks to sit and play on.
“So make it that.
“The 20km/h speed limit does nothing, people do not obey it in any way.
“If nothing is done soon I think the next addition to the newly designed esplanade will be a memorial to a deceased child.”
More Coverage
Originally published as Cairns Esplanade traffic ban: Restaurant owner’s warning over near misses
LNP member demands former chairman’s party donation be returned
An LNP whistleblower has called out his own party’s decision to accept a “non-political” donation from a key Far North powerbroker now facing serious charges, including allegedly assaulting a woman.
How program is creating sport pathway for young girls
The Far North’s arm wrestle against capital cities to breed and maintain sporting talent has received a boost with a new program helping establish grassroots pathways.