We’ve received the following email:
“Hi- I’ve perused your GE Debates website & noted that while all the topics are very pertinent to residents, I noticed that there seems to be little discussion of Council’s non existent traffic management in the City of Glen Eira particuarly in and around local streets surrounding main shopping strip roads (particularly in Elsternwick, Glenhuntly Road shopping strip).
Since the introduction in 2011 of 40kmph speed limit Mon to Sat (reduced from 60kmph) in Glenhuntly Road, the local side streets have been inundated with cars trying to escape the slower speed limit, creating RAT RUNS & creating danger for pedestrians, kids & pets. In fact there have been 2 cats killed (our beloved pets) by speeding cars on Rowan street in 2011.
A recent traffic survey conducted by Council at my request in Rowan Street Elsternwick showed the traffic volumes had increased from 900 to 1400 per week & approx 20% of these cars were speeding (above the required 50kmph). Council however has refused to take any action to implement safety measures…(anything would do- e.g. speed limit signage (50kmph), no left turn at certain designated peak AM & PM times, one speed hump, etc).
I have an FOI currently with Council seeking data & information and criteria for setting of priorities & decision making, as well as budget & expenditure over the past 3 years on local street road safety measures implemented.
I have sought the assistance of my local councillor Cheryl Forge, who has been inept completely & instead of remaining independent & helping her constituents, seems to have sided with the Council traffic engineering department, as I have received (only 4 months late) a response she signed that is almost word for word the same as the Council traffic department’s initial response. How disappointing!!!!
I think the traffic management issues are seriously neglected in the city & Council is not complying with good traffic management practices legislation or keeping up with practices seen in comparable inner city councils (e./g. Stonnington, Port Phillip, etc)
There is a definite problem in the local streets. I’m sending you photos of ‘Keep left give way sign on the roundabout) that was driven over last weekend, (by a 4 wheel drive no doubt).
I’m wondering if you could post this comment (in its entirety or edited if deemed too long) on your website & invite comments from other residents. I’d be interested in their views and also what action we residents could collectively take to pressure this incompetent Council to take action to make our local streets safer. At the very least, the speed limit should be reduced in local streets to 40kmph to align with the main roads! How illogical is it to have higher speed limits in local residential streets than in the main roads!!!
Thanks in advance
Glen Eira Debates 
March 3, 2012 at 12:34 PM
The exact same thing is now going to happen along Centre Road with the introduction of 40k. Mind you, the side streets are already race tracks because of railway crossings countless traffic lights and poor parking facilities which hold up traffic endlessly. What’s made things a lot worse is that the stupid bicycle lane in McKinnon Road and the new set of speed humps means that more people are cutting through all the side streets from McKinnon Road to get to Centre Rd for their shopping. There just doesn’t seem to be any grand plan or vision from this council where they look at the impact of doing something in one street and trying to figure out what this will mean for surrounding streets. There’s even a petition going now to remove the speed humps in McKinnon Road.
March 3, 2012 at 2:11 PM
Traffic is only going to increase, that is what increasing population density does, it increase people and and vehicles. With this increase, comes more trucks to supply us with our every day goodies we all enjoy.
More cars, more trucks, more air pollution, more noise, more accidents, more damage to infrastructure, more road rage, more roads, more parking problems, more petrol, that is your short term future if you live in Mlebourne.
Every time you vote for the Lib Lab twins, that what your voting for, so if you have voted for this lot at any level of government, please spare me the hypocrisy of your complaint, you are getting 100% what you voted for.
Bike tracks or bike lanes are not stupid they are part of the solution to reduce cars on our roads Every time you pass a person on a bike, thank them, for there generosity and care for using alternative transport, they are doing it for you and the environment, these are people that care and set an example, and deserve your utmost respect. They are pitching in to make an alternative. What are you doing?
If you can ride a bike, use the thing as much as possible, I know not all people can. Next time you need another a car select a small eco-friendly model, it will makes a difference in many positive ways. Walking works to.
Look for alternatives to to the norm, please don’t vote for the Cheryl Forge’s of this world, they offer nothing other than more of the same, she is bereft of anything other the parroting others.
You will not stop the cars, but you can contribute to a alternative, a sustainable future, a life after oil, and a city not dominated by cars.
Vote Green they are the only people who do and will take this issue seriously, all other don’t see it as a problem.
March 3, 2012 at 10:05 PM
I would probably vote Green if they were about the environment. When I read their policies they appear to be anti business and some what socialist. They think that there will be jobs in the green economy. It won’t be building wind farms they do that best and cheaper in China. It won’t be building solar panels, they do that best in China. Much cheaper. In the end we will all have to ride bikes as we will not be able to afford petrol. To make a battery operated car creates more CO2 than making a conventional car. No one can afford to buy them. Greens talk about eco friendly housing. Most of these do not include double glazing with argon gas. I asked a Green once about using these windows in “green buildings” and he said they were too expensive. Most of the CO2 comes from sheep and cows farting, not cars. The Greens are ruining Australia. A Liberal/National Gov. will get rid of the carbon tax. and create jobs. The Greens main game is gay marriage and queue jumpers arriving on boats.
March 3, 2012 at 6:20 PM
The world will be saved by bike paths will it? Bikes are fine but they aren’t a solution. What’s needed is a council with brains and that’s definitely not Glen Eira. They do not have any plans except putting in 3 speed humps a year and then bullshitting their way out of every other needed action. The budget needs an overhaul and instead of spending millions on grassing ovals and gesacs and pavilions this money should be diverted to what’s an emergency now -traffic and drains. My street is flooded again!
March 3, 2012 at 6:34 PM
Anons .. sorry but they are not going to any of that drains and traffic stuff, they have passed the buck on those well a truly, it not going to happen, under Newton and the gang. No one said bike-paths were going to save the day, sustainable solution including both your problems with be aided by multiple efforts leading to an overall solution. But the head in the sand stance that we currently have, will get us nowhere. Sporting people in Glen Eira are far more important than water in your street or traffic problems that even lead to injury or death.
March 3, 2012 at 10:21 PM
Agree with the general viewpoint that traffic management in the municipality is seat-of-the-pants stuff. Little thoughtful planning. Traffic lights and speed bumps appear to be their default solution to most perceived problems.
Also agree with the criticism of those heavy lumps of –what looks like compounded rubber – they are installing all over the place. Not only on major arterial roads like McKinnon Road, but even in a minor side street like Malane Street.
March 3, 2012 at 10:39 PM
I saw Concerned Resident run over the Keep Left sign
He hates lefties
He thinks all the Keep Left signs should be in Richmond and Brunswick, not in Glen Eira
March 4, 2012 at 8:14 AM
The only road work undertaken by Glen Eira is on main and aterial roads – Vic Roads pays for this work. Yet, Glen Eira gets to include the Vic Road funding in the budget/accounts as money spent on maintaining roads – aren’t we good.
But they never look at the flow on impact on these works on local streets (which are totally Glen Eira’s responsibility – no funding by Vic Roads). Council’s Traffic Department lacks any ability to even part way address issues and is plain arrogant when dealing with residents.
Traffic volumes and speeds are a major issue which Council is failing to acknowledge and local residential streets are becoming unsafe. Council needs to stop wasting our money on legal fees to settle internal squabbles and start recognising and addressing the road safety issues on local roads.
March 4, 2012 at 3:13 PM
Rowan St has the misfortune to be adjacent to one of Council’s Urban Villages. According to Jeff Akehurst this means that traffic is *not* to be considered during assessment of planning applications. Council’s Traffic Management group have been trained to utter vapid phrases such as:
* “It is considered that the traffic generated by the proposed development is unlikely to have any significant negative impacts on traffic conditions on the local road network.” [We don’t know what the impact will be and have no strategy for it or all the other developments under construction.]
* “It is acknowledged that the increase in traffic volumes generated by this proposal will be noticeable to local residents. However, both Council’s and the applicant’s Transport Planners have concluded that the increase in traffic generated by the proposal would not adversely affect the operation of XXX or YYY Roads or other parts of the local street network.” [There will be a loss of amenity. Tough.]
What appears to happen is that Council applies tables such as C1 in GEPS 56.06 to Vehicles Per Day (VPD) statistics. Council’s Traffic Engineering department did privately admit to me that they didn’t take into account obstructions such as notorious intersections or level crossings. I have seen no evidence that they perform any modelling of traffic in an area or precinct. They have no objective standards for what constitutes “significant negative impact”. The issue isn’t so much what *one* development generates, but the cumulative impact of all the developments in an area, who each justify themselves by pointing at similar developments nearby. In short, the planning system has as its goal traffic congestion for existing residents in the areas that Council has targetted, without a plan or funds for addressing the problem. Little wonder then that neither Cheryl nor Traffic Engineering was much use. The reported traffic volume increase from 900 to 1400 per week (not VPD) doesn’t sound high by itself unless there is some other factor involved.
Various studies have explored the relationship between road design and traffic speed, and this is also hinted at in Table C1. I’m not likely to forget spending over an hour in pouring rain assisting with the grief of a person whose dog had just been run over outside my property by a car travelling inappropriately fast, and I take the loss of pets very seriously. In my view, where medium- and higher-density development is being encouraged (that is, lots of people being concentrated into an area expected to be pedestrian-friendly), then there should automatically be a 40kmh speed limit, or even lower. In a number of scandinavian countries these sorts of areas have 30kmh limits *and* a culture in which drivers are expected to give way to pedestrians and cyclists. I’d go further and insist that roads with bike lanes painted on them, especially where cars are permitted to park, should also have at most 40kmh speed limits.
Its not just a matter of putting up a sign though–VicRoads admits that operating speed for a road is likely to be 10kmh above the limit if not constrained by congestion or traffic “treatments” (what used to be called hazards). Unpopular as it may be, one strategy is to narrow roads for motorized transport, perhaps creating a dedicated bike lane. I’m against relying on on-street parking, and expect multi-unit developments to provide sufficient parking for their needs on-site, including for visitors. Otherwise we’ll continue to have a high incidence of “dooring” and cyclists getting struck while vulnerable passing parked cars.
There’s a bunch of other stuff Councils need to embrace if the increase in density is to be managed, and little sign they’re up to the challenge. In some ways they’re just reflecting the wider community feeling that its acceptable to protect the amenity of people living in Minimal Change Areas at the expense of all others.
March 4, 2012 at 4:19 PM
Reprobate, you always make sense. Whenever I’ve read through officers’ report there is not one figure or statistic that is used to quantify the conclusions. It’s like saying “Trust me, I’m an expert”. I’m afraid that trust has long gone regarding the competence of the entire planning and traffic department. Reprobate is correct. What’s happening here is a council that’s simply refusing to do the necessary homework and one that does not give a hoot about residents.
From the resident’s comments it’s obvious that councillors are impotent as well – regardless of their good intentions. All of this bespeaks a council that has got it all wrong.
March 4, 2012 at 6:32 PM
When is to many cars to many, there is not going to be straw that breaks the camels back with traffic, just a long drawn out grind of deteriorating conditions and spiralling costs in time and money and environment. Nothing is going to fix the car problem we have created. All Reprobate ideas are on the board and most likely will be implemented over the next 10 or so years, although the folks that spend two or more hours, some four and more communting by car to and from work are going to be resistant to these ideas, along with professional drivers and rev-heads, all believe speed is the answer to the traffic problems. Cocooned in there metal ego-trips viewing the outside neighbourhoods through tinted windows and air-con. A man on foot ain’t a man at all was a old cowboy saying coined by a generation or two of men who literately looked down on the their world. Glen Eira town hall staff is not going to pull the rabbit out of the hat, you’re on your own, you have handed complete power to them and they don’t care, there is no rear view mirror in there vehicle of incompetence, just a radio stuck on Alan Jones who’s telling them its all a left wing conspiracy to undermine our way of life we all deserve. Forget the bureaucrats, they see you as the enemy, a plague of cars on your house is there revenge. Forget the car culture, walk, run, bike, PT it. Its not anywhere near as bad as you may think. In fact mixing with people has its benefits.
March 4, 2012 at 9:55 PM
“The Greens are ruining Australia”
Good day, Lord Monckton glad you could join us on our antipodean talking screens, we have missed you mate, its been raining and flooding so much down here, we haven’t been able to keep it touch with you, but we have been thinking of you. This would be our forth 100 year flood in four years, funny about that. I suppose it good to get them out of the way, all in a row like that. It means we should be right for the next 4 hundred year, right?
Good god we really are attracting the loonies
I actually thought the Libs and Labs have rotated themselves thro every arm of Government in Australia for the past 100+ years.
But somehow the Greens are ruining the country, that make real sense
Giving people their basic human rights, that will really stuff the place no end
I think private education is ruining the country because it produces dunces that believe in cow-farts jokes
March 5, 2012 at 10:57 AM
Traffic management in Glen Eira is half arsed. As noted by others above, the council is only willing to ‘invest’ locally if they receive external funding ie. speed humps on some roads.
As a resident of Glen Eira and someone who pays rates, I don’t want this money going to residential roads which are used as rat runs by fast moving traffic. Instead of simply putting the speed humps on roads such as McKinnon Road, the council should have followed up with further disincentives for fast moving traffic on the residential streets so as they too would be avoided. Such traffic should be channeled onto VicRoads maintained roads.
In sensible council areas, there are ‘gateways’ to residential precincts. In such areas, a suite of traffic calming measures (not just speed humps) to discourage such streets being used as rat runs. It is made clear through the use of surface treatments, road narrowing, chicanes and the like.
As a result, people get out of their cars, travel by foot or bike and meet other members of their community. There are more eyes on the street and so less crime.
At the recent community plan forums, it was clearly highlighted that we have a low sense of community unless natural disaster strikes incl flooding. After such events, people come together. Why is it that such an event need occur before you know your neighbours?
Those at Glen Eira need to wake up and acknowledge that the fast and efficient movement of cars is not the only way. Further, plonking speed humps without other traffic calming measures just shifts the problem onto our ‘quiet residential streets’.
March 7, 2012 at 9:56 PM
As a resident of Glen Eira I’m well aware of the lack of traffic management in the municipality and the impact it is having on local streets. As a journalism student studying at Monash University, I feel that writing an article on the issue could be a small step towards putting pressure on council to take action, ultimately creating safer streets. Currently I’m in the process of talking to certain Councilors but it would be great to hear any further deatiler comments or anecdotes from residents regarding traffic management in Glen Eira that I could include in my article, my email address is jfgor1@student.monash.edu Thankyou 🙂
March 7, 2012 at 10:27 PM
Good luck with your studies Josie. I reckon that you could think of asking councillors what they actually know about traffic management. How about putting these sorts of questions to them and then writing your article – what’s the criteria used to establish priorities? Why do some streets just happen to jump the queue? How much local analysis went into the transport strategy rather than state figures? How many developments have their parking requirements waived? Isn’t it against the grain to convert disabled parking into ordinary parking? There are a million questions but the most important one is why only a handful of streets are earmarked each year in the budget for any kind of works when residents are screaming blue murder. And don’t be put off by the answers that it’s all about money, budgets and priorities. If they give you this run a round then ask them to place traffic and parking into a list of their priorities and then ask what they’re going to do about it. YOu should get some pretty interesting non-answers on all of these. Then you can write a story that says how much Glen Eira councillors are on top of issues with all the facts at their fingertips and how much they really and truly care about residents’ issues. Don’t forget to mention that it’s an election year so readers need to take everything they say with a cup full of Epsom salts!