Traffic in Mayfield Road

As you may be aware, the Carina Library, a large park, San Sisto College, St Martins School, and Our Lady of Graces Catholic Church are located on Mayfield Road. Furthermore it is one of the few streets in the area that directly links Old Cleveland and Stanley Roads and is without round-a-bouts, speed bumps or chicanes. The lack of these traffic features contributes to drivers using the street at a speed which places members of the public at risk, especially a significant number of children.

You may recall that the Queensland School Transport Safety Taskforce (QSTST) of Queensland Transport included Mayfield Road in its trial of 30km/hr speed zones. The final report found that

Up to a third of the student pedestrians and cyclists killed in school transport were in the immediate vicinity of their schools when they were struckand the school environment remains intense concentration of sometimes very young children, buses, cars, and road hazards in a confined space. The potential risk is high.

Whilst school signage exists, this is inadequate to overcome the problem. It was quite apparent that the increased signage and reduced speed limit for the street during the trial reminded drivers that Mayfield Road was an area where extra caution was warranted, due to the increased likelihood of a child crossing the road both during and outside school hours. Traffic management on Mayfield Road requires urgent attention.

The introduction of traffic slowing features and increased signage would have the dual effect of minimizing traffic on the street as it will encourage drivers to use main roads as a thoroughfare, as well as reducing the likelihood of a speed related incident involving a child.